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Friday, Feb. 05, 2010

Girls Basketball: Not a run of the Mills win

ATWATER -- Jealinda Mills was only thinking one thing as she stood at the free-throw line with the game on the line.

"Breathe, I wasn't even breathing at some point," the Merced senior said. "I just tried to make it seem like I was at practice."

Mills gathered herself and sank two free throws with 2.5 seconds left to lift the Merced girls basketball team to a thrilling 52-50 win over Atwater on Thursday night.

"I just wanted to make at least one shot," said Mills, who was carried off the floor by her teammates after the game.

"I was so happy. I knew my release was good and it was going in."

It was a game played with the intensity of a playoff game despite two teams that came in with 4-4 records in the Central California Conference.

Both teams played as if their seasons were on the line and the disappointment showed on the faces of Atwater as many of the girls were in tears after the final buzzer.

"It's a hard loss," Atwater coach Jason Boesch said. "What do you say to the girls after something like that?

"It's hard because they do everything you want them to do as a coach. It's an emotional game."

Atwater had tied the game just seconds before Mills' free throws.

Patience Madayag somehow found a way to a sink a 3-pointer while being guarded by two Merced defenders to tie the game at 50-50 with 10 seconds left.

"It was a miracle shot," Boesch said. "I don't know how she got it to go in. She was fading to the left and threw the ball back to the right with both hands.

"It looked like a volleyball set shot."

After a timeout, Merced inbounded the ball to Lauren Lilly, who raced up the floor and tried to hit a runner.

The ball caromed to Mills, who went up for a shot and was fouled by Atwater's Marielle Valdez with 2.5 seconds left.

Boesch did his best to ice Mills by taking all the time he could to send in a replacement for Valdez, who had fouled out.

Mills overcame her nerves and sank the shot, which brought the Merced crowd to its feet.

"It certainly was an intense game," Merced coach Brad Reed said. "You want your players to want every game this bad.

"The atmosphere was great. The younger players stuck around for this game and I think the girls fed off that energy."

Jordyn White led Atwater with 13 points and Madayag finished with 10 points.

Brittany Huddleston sprained her ankle and missed most of the first half. However, she returned in the second half and led Merced with 13 points. Mills (11) and Brittany Scott (10) rounded out Merced's double-figure scoring.

"I guess you could tell (Huddleston) wanted to win bad, she showed that," Merced coach Brad Reed said. "She hurt both ankles earlier this year. You could tell she was playing in a lot of pain. It was nice to see her play and that had to inspire her teammates."

At Atwater

Merced 13 12 12 15 -- 52

Atwater 12 13 10 15 -- 50

MERCED --Lauren Lilly 6, Rebecca Schonauer 9, Misha Strong 1, Jealinda Mills 11, Brittany Huddleston 13, Jamiee Bryant 2, Brittany Scott 10. Totals: 15 20-33 52.

ATWATER -- Amber Gutierrez 3, Ebbonie Harris 6, Allysa Gamboa 3, Marielle Valdez 2, Samantha Murphy 2, Jordyn White 13, Patience Madayag 10, Mellissa Valentine 4, Melanie Valentine 7. Totals: 17 11-26 50.

3-pointers: Merced 4 (Huddleston 2, Scott 2), Atwater 3 (Gamboa 1, Madayag 1, White 1); Total Fouls: Merced 21, Atwater 24; Foul Outs: Harris (A), Valdez (A); Technicals: Amanda Campos (M).

Records: Merced 5-4 CCC, 6-14 overall; Atwater 4-5 CCC, 12-11.

JV -- Atwater won 29-24. Freshmen -- Merced won.