Sage Hill wins Division II state girls’ basketball championship

Emily Eadie made a reverse layup with one minute left to provide Newport Seashore Sage Hill its first lead because the first quarter, made one other to place the Lightning on prime to remain earlier than Isabel Gomez and Kat Righeimer made three of 4 free throws within the closing seconds to clinch a dramatic 51-47 victory over Fresno San Joaquin Memorial within the CIF Division II state women’ basketball closing at Golden 1 Heart on Saturday.

Trailing by as many a 13 factors, Sage Hill clawed its means again to drag even at 33-33 when Gomez banked in a three-pointer to beat the shot clock with lower than a minute left within the third quarter.

The Lightning once more fell behind within the fourth quarter, however confirmed resilience as they’ve all through the playoffs to seize their first state title two weeks after dropping to Orange Lutheran within the Southern Part Division 2A championship recreation.

“It was an thrilling recreation to say the least … our women are unbelievable,” Sage Hill coach Kerwin Walters mentioned. “After we play like that there’s not a crew on the earth we will’t compete with. We’ve been in these form of video games. We knew we will’t play groups that may’t push us, so we scheduled tremendous powerful groups and all these losses helped us develop.”

The Lightning (27-10) trailed by as many as 13 factors within the second quarter however closed the half on a 7-0 run to path solely 22-16.

Gomez completed with 14 factors and 11 rebounds, Eadie contributed 13 factors and 11 rebounds and Righeimer, who made a last-second jumper to beat Corona Santiago within the Southern California regional closing, added 11 factors.

Meadow Roland had 10 factors and freshman heart Alexis Swillis grabbed 13 rebounds for the Panthers (27-7), the Central Part Division I champions.

“We’re a really mentally powerful crew, so being behind didn’t trouble us,” mentioned Gomez, a senior level guard who hopes to stroll on on the College of Pennsylvania. “I knew I needed to be extra aggressive [in the second half] than I used to be within the first half and on the tying three-pointer I simply noticed the clock and needed to take the shot.”