It comes down to the final seconds again for Stockton team and Sacred Heart Cathedral. This time, though, game-winning shot falls. Other NorCal winners include McClymonds boys (third straight D1 title), Monte Vista of Danville girls, Rocklin boys, Carondelet girls and Sacred Heart Cathedral boys.

By Harold Abend & Mark Tennis

The score was tied 60-60 with 18 seconds left in a battle between nationally-ranked rivals that once again lived up to pregame  hype.

The play was designed for St. Mary's of Stockton's Chelsea Gray to go one-on-one with Sacred Heart Cathedral's KiKi Moore, and if she couldn't penetrate she would kick it out to one of the shooters on the perimeter.

Gray waited until there were about six seconds remaining before she made her move.

First, she faked left, then right, then turned back left again, and with a spinning move she got past Moore and with Kamilah Jackson's hand in her face she flipped the ball up and after bouncing twice on the rim it dropped in with 2.5 seconds left for the winning basket.

Before the Irish could call a timeout, the horn sounded and St. Mary's avenged last year's last-second loss on missed layup by Afure Jemerigbe with a heart-stopping 62-60 victory and will return to ARCO next weekend to play in the Division III state championship.

"I dreamt about making the game-winning shot many times,” said Gray, who is generally regarded as one of the top junior guards in the country.

"When it left my hand I was saying to myself, just go in, please,” said the 5-11 Gray, who finished with a game-high 24 points.
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"My heart almost stopped when Chelsea took the shot,” said Jemerigbe, who despite still showing the effects of a preseason injury finished with 20 points, seven steals, five rebounds, three assists and played excellent defense.

St. Mary's (29-3) was out-rebounded by the Irish 39-20 but Sacred Heart Cathedral had a very uncharacteristic 29 turnovers with Moore committing 14.

Despite the poor ball-handling, the Irish (28-2) stayed in the game with the rebounding advantage and 58 percent shooting from the field.

Four Irish girls were in double-figure scoring, led by Raven Brooks with 17 points.

Tierra Rogers had 14 points and eight rebounds, Washington State-bound Moore had 12 points, nine rebounds, and four assists and Jackson finished with 12 points, 15 rebounds and four assists.

"You have to pick your poison against St. Mary's. You either defend the dribble-drive or defend the three,” said Irish Coach Brian Harrigan, whose team's run of three-straight Division III state championships comes to an end.

In this game it was the superior depth of the Rams that had a part in doing in Sacred Heart Cathedral.

"I felt the fact they play only five or six girls was to our advantage,” said Rams' Coach Tom Gonsalves.

"A lot pf people wondered if we could even get here with a rotation of five-and-a-half girls. No offense to my bench but in year's past we've had a little more depth,” Harrigan remarked.

St. Mary's trailed 14-6 early but when the Irish's Cal-bound Rogers picked up her second foul midway through the opening quarter, the Rams took advantage and closed with a 9-2 run to trail only 16-15 at the end of one period.

St. Mary's took its first lead at 17-16 on Jemerigbe's basket to open the second quarter, and at one point the Rams led 39-29 early in the third quarter before the Irish made a run to trail by only 47-45 after three quarters.

There were five lead changes and three ties in the final stanza before Gray's shot that erased the memory of last year's loss.

"Last year's defeat and the way we lost hurt a lot,” said Gonsalves, who will be going for his third state title while the team will be looking for its fourth crown combined in Divisions III and IV when it meets Inglewood next weekend at ARCO.

Sacred Heart Cathedral entered the game as the No. 2-ranked team overall in the state and might have had a chance to be No. 1 since unbeaten Mater Dei of Santa Ana went down in the Division II South regional final. After Gray's shot dropped through, now that new No. 1 ranking will be between the Rams and previous No. 3 Brea Olinda, which is the team that beat Mater Dei.

In other NorCal finals played at Arco Arena on Saturday:

Boys Division I
McClymonds (Oakland) 46, Monte Vista (Danville) 43

Defending Division I state champion McClymonds will be making its third straight appearance in the state title game after holding off a very game Monte Vista of Danville in front of a combined crowd of 7,865, most of whom were on hand for the nightcap at ARCO Arena in Sacramento.

CalHiSports.com state No. 4 ranked McClymonds (29-1) came out sluggish, trailing 15-6 at the 5:50 mark of second quarter before setting down and clawing its way back with an 11-3 run to trail 18-17 at halftime.

Back and forth the two teams went the entire second half.

Monte Vista (28-4) hung tough, but after five lead changes the Warriors had a 33-30 lead entering the fourth quarter.

After Quincy Hill made a jumper, Mack had a 35-30 lead but still, Monte Vista refused to buckle.

First, Brian Barbour (game-high 18 points) drained a long three-pointer.

After a Mack turnover, Mark Appel hit a trey and the Mustangs had a 36-35 lead.

It was at this point that Damon Powell, Will Cherry and Justin Standley took over for the Oakland Section champions and top-seeded Warriors.  

After Powell made an acrobatic layup, the Warriors had a 37-36 lead.

Cherry followed with a defensive rebound and then went coast-to-coast and laid it in with the left hand to make it 39-36.

Monte Vista tied it at 39-39 at the 2:46 mark but the Mustangs would never lead again.

Standley, who scored all seven of his points in the last 1:43, then got a putback and followed that with a three-pointer with 48 seconds left that pretty much sealed the win.

Still, after Standley hit a pair of free throws with 3.1 seconds remaining, Monte Vista had one last chance to send the game into overtime.

The Mustangs advanced the ball past the midcourt line, but couldn't find Barbour.

Instead, 6-6 Stanford-bound football tight end Zack Ertz (11 points, seven rebounds) got the ball and his shot from 35 feet bounced off the back rim as the horn sounded.

Powell and Cherry led the way for McClymonds with 12 points apiece.

"We're an up tempo team and just like in the De La Salle game their half-court offense gave us problems early,” said first-year McClymonds Coach Brandon Brooks.

"I told the kids let's keep the pressure up, trapping and pressing,” Brooks continued. "We picked up the tempo and pulled it out.

"I talked to the boys about the tradition and pride we have at McClymonds and the fact we're known for basketball excellence. It was that pride that came through in the second half.”

Div. I Girls

Monte Vista (Danville) 42, Kennedy (Sacramento) 25

Head coach Ron Hirschman gained the first NorCal title in his 19 years at Monte Vista and his team did it by playing lock-down defense.

Kennedy, which played in the NorCal final a year ago and lost to Berkeley, nearly tied the NorCal record for least points scored in a final but a last-second three-pointer prevented that from happening.

Niveen Rasheed led the Mustangs with 12 points, 11 rebounds, four steals, three assists and two blocks.

The Cougars (25-7) were still close at the end of the third quarter and could have cut the lead to 28-25 but a three-point attempt at the buzzer clanked off the back rim. Monte Vista then completely took control of the game in the fourth quarter and nearly shut out Kennedy other than that last three-pointer.

"The matchups weren't good for us and their length  bothered us,” said Kennedy coach Brandon Yung, whose team was led by Shanice Butler's 10 points. "We didn't see the same shot opportunities today that we usually do.”

Added Kennedy senior Melody Khlok: "Those were trees with hands attached.”

Junior Dani Rabago scored 11 points for the Mustangs, with six of those during a 10-0 run to start the second quarter that broke an 8-8 tie at the end of the opening quarter.

"We were in this game 12 years ago and we were 28-2,” said Hirschman, whose team was No. 11 overall in this week's overall state rankings. "The only difference is that today we were going to leave 29-2.”

Div. II Boys
Rocklin 70, St. Francis (Mountain View) 65

The Rocklin Thunder, Sac-Joaquin Section champions and seeded second, making its first ever appearance in a Northern Regional title game, was the only one of three Sacramento-area teams to advance to the state championships, after holding off top-seeded St. Francis to win the NorCal Division II title.

The Thunder trailed 12-6 early but although they seemed to take control in the second quarter they couldn't shake a pesky St. Francis squad and led by only 34-31 at halftime.

The third quarter saw the size of Rocklin (32-2) wear down the Lancers as they asserted themselves behind 6-10 UCLA-bound center Brendan Lane and 6-5 forward Pat Stover.

Lane had five of his team-high 17 points and five of his game-high 17 rebounds (four blocks) in the third period and Stover had six of his 15 points in the same quarter.

When Lane hit a three-pointer to make it 54-42, it looked like St. Francis (30-3) was done.

The lead got to 66-51 with 3:47 remaining, but the Lancers refused to quit.

At that point, Shawn Grant led a ferocious comeback, scoring nine of his game-high 24 points in that span, but the Lancers ran out of time.

Tyler Johnson recorded a double-double for St. Francis with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Anthony Romero and Cody Kale were also in double-figure scoring for Rocklin with 11 and 10 points respectively.

"We tensed up a little on offense down the stretch, but we defended well and that held us together,” said Rocklin Coach Steve Taylor.

"This is what we've been talking about all year and what we've been working for, getting to the state championship,” said Lane. "Now, all the hard work has paid off.”

"We haven't played a team that big this year but their height didn't bother us on our shooting,” said Lancers' Coach Mike Motil. "We're an offensive rebounding team, and if anything, their height and length kept us off the offensive boards.”

"We played our hearts out and I'm proud of my team but we just came up short against a good team,” Grant said of his state No. 14 ranked squad.

State No. 11 Rocklin now gets a chance to avenge of its two losses this season when it meets No. 12 Eisenhower (Rialto) next Friday for the D2 state title.

Eisenhower defeated Rocklin, 77-66, at the Holiday Classic at Torrey Pines between Christmas and New Year's.

"When we played them we came into a tournament and we didn't know much about them and didn't have any time to prepare,” said Taylor about Eisenhower.

"They made 15 threes against us so we'll definitely have to defend their shooters,” Taylor continued.

"I think it will be a great game. We're just excited to be playing them.”


Div. II Girls

Carondelet (Concord) 60, Oak Ridge (El Dorado Hills) 50

A team that played three overtimes in its previous game usually isn't the one that surges at the end, but the Cougars certainly did and that's why they are headed back to the state finals.

Oak Ridge, which had lost just one game since going 0-2 to start the season and has been ranked higher than Carondelet for most of this season due to a road win a year ago, grabbed a 40-32 lead in the third quarter on a three-pointer by junior sharpshooter Sara James.

But Carondelet then came alive. Lifted by freshman guard Hannah Huffman, the Cougars went on a 11-0 run to reverse the momentum and take a 43-40 advantage. Huffman, who had just two points at halftime, nailed three mid-range pull-up jumpers during the spurt and ended with 14 points.

Oak Ridge was within one at 47-46 later in the fourth quarter when  an 8-0 run by the Cougars sealed the deal. Hilary Rosette continued her resurgent play with two free throws, one basket, two rebounds and two steals during that spurt. She finished with a team-leading 15 points.

"We weren't too concerned about fatique,” said Carondelet head coach Margaret Gartner, whose team won that three-overtime game two nights earlier against two-time defending Div. II state champ Archbishop Mitty. "We didn't go hard yesterday in practice and just talked about what adjustments we would make.”

Most of the adjustments came in the second half as the Cougars completely turned around a rebounding disadvantage in the first half.

"We were just trying to focus on defense and we boxed out better,” Gartner continued. "(During the 11-0 run) we got a couple of quick steals and made some close-in shots.”

James led all scorers with 30 points on the same floor only a few hours after a man named LeBron James scored 51 for the Cleveland Cavaliers against the Sacramento Kings.

"We made history for our school this season,” James said. "We know we could have made it to next Saturday, but we're satisfied with what we did.”

Carondelet improved to 29-3 and will meet Brea Olinda in the CIF state finals on Friday night. Brea won one of its playoff games this week, 73-40, over a Hanford team that Carondelet lost to earlier this season. It's not going to be a 33-point blowout, but those results clearly show that the Cougars will definitely have a huge uphill climb if they are going to win a second state crown.

Div. III Boys
Sacred Heart Cathedral (SF) 77, Sacramento 65

After losing to the Dragons in last year's NorCal final, 65-49, the Irish had too much inside power for them this time and won their second regional crown, the first coming in Division IV in 2006.

Senior standouts Kevin Greene and Jerry Brown were both starters on that 2006 team as freshmen and both were particularly tough on Sacramento coming up with offensive rebounds and putbacks.

"There was no way I would let last year happen again,” said Greene, the USC football recruit who powered his way for 22 points and 15 rebounds.

Brown, who is headed to Fresno State to play basketball, had 14 points.

"We've been talking all year about going to state to win,” he said. "Now, we've got the opportunity to show what we can do.”

Senior Nate Gartrell also had a strong outing for the Irish. He had 13 points, six rebounds and five steals.

Sacred Heart Cathedral (24-4) came back from a 24-16 deficit in the first quarter with a 21-1 run that extended to midway through the second quarter.

The Dragons (25-6) sliced into that lead before halftime and in the third quarter actually took two-point leads twice at 50-48 and 52-50. The Irish then went on a 12-2 spurt, with Greene scoring six of those points.

Chase Tapley connected on five 3-pointers and had 27 points in his final game for the Dragons. He will play next year at San Diego State. Sophomore Josiah Turner (12 points) and junior Travon Abraham (10 points) both reached double figures as well.

"We knew any of the final four teams would be tough,” said Sacramento head coach Derek Swafford, whose team entered the game No. 1 in the Div. III state rankings and could still end up No. 2 and among the top 20 overall in the final rankings depending on how Sacred Heart Cathedral fares in the state title game. "It seemed like we had 'em at one point, but then missed a couple of chippies. Their bigs also beat us up.”

Sounds like an offensive lineman trying to block Kevin Greene.

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