Merced girls basketball win thriller, advance to semifinals for first time since 2002
Merced High senior Kaitlynn Perez wanted to cry as the final seconds ticked off the clock. Bears teammate Amari Stamps dribbled out the final seconds and pointed at the scoreboard as she jumped up and down.
The scoreboard read Merced 54, East Union 51.
For the first time since 2002, the Bears girls basketball team is headed to the Sac-Joaquin Section semifinals.
“We had a lot of fight,” Perez said. “This team has played some tough, close games that have gone down to the final 2 minutes. We have a lot of trust in our teammates.
“Those last few seconds when Amari was dribbling it out, I don’t know what to say. I wanted to cry.”
The No. 5 seeded Bears (26-3) came back from a seven-point deficit in the fourth quarter against a team they’ve already lost to twice this season to extend their winning streak to 18 consecutive games.
Merced will travel to No. 1 seed Placer on Tuesday for a Division III semifinal matchup at 7 p.m. The game was originally scheduled for Monday, but both teams agreed to move the game to Tuesday.
The Bears are one win away from playing for a section championship at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
“This is huge,” said Bears coach Art Solis. “You can’t beat this feeling. The girls battled all game. They didn’t give up. We knew how tough this game was going to be.”
The No. 4 Lancers had defeated Merced 60-58 and 53-29 in the two previous matchups.
The Bears looked like they were in trouble when senior Khya Martin picked up her third and fourth foul within a second of each other and had to go to the bench with 5 minutes and 12 seconds left in the third quarter.
Martin sat out the rest of the third quarter and was forced to watch as East Union (25-5) built the lead as high as nine points in the third quarter.
“I knew I was going to be on the bench for a minute,” Martin said. “I had some anxiety. My biggest fear was who was going to guard No. 50 (Ala Tuuga). Kaitlynn was in there and she did a fantastic job.”
Martin returned to the game with just over 6 minutes left in the fourth quarter and East Union leading 45-38. Martin immediately to scored to pull the Bears within 45-40 with 6:13 left.
Martin scored eight of her team-high 13 points in the fourth quarter as Merced used a 12-2 run to take a 50-47 lead with 2:22 left in the game.
“There’s two things I always preach,” Solis said. “Finish strong and win the fourth quarter. It doesn’t matter who we play.”
The Lancers regained the lead at 51-50 with 1:48 left on a steal and basket by Lani Tuuga (14 points).
Martin answered for Merced with a basket inside to give the Bears a 52-51 lead with 1:27 left. Perez added a putback to extend the lead to 54-51 with 31.8 seconds left.
Tuuga missed a 3-pointer with six seconds left and Merced ran out the clock to set off a wild celebration in front of their bench.
Martin had 13 rebounds to go along with her 13 points. Perez finished with 11 points and 16 rebounds. Amari Stamps (nine points), Anaya Seals (eight points) and Sierra Smith (eight points) all contributed for Merced.
“People aren’t going to understand what this means to us,” Martin said. “Like I said before, we’re all best friends. We get to stay together and play some more.”
Hughson 39, Livingston 38 in Livingston — The No. 4 seeded Wolves dropped a nail-biter in the Division IV quarterfinals. Livingston finishes with a 21-7 record.
Le Grand 45, Millennium 43 in Tracy — Le Grand’s Alexa Ultreras scored 13 points and pulled down eight rebounds to help the No. 6 Bulldogs (17-11) win on the road in the Division VI quarterfinals against No. 3 Millennium. Le Grand will travel to No. 2 Golden Sierra on Monday for a semifinal game at 7 p.m.
Le Grand built an 11-point lead after three quarters and had to hold onto the narrow win.
Valley Christian 76, Stone Ridge Christian 41 in Roseville — The No. 8 seed Knights ran into a tough team in the top-seeded Lions.
Ki’Onna Hilliard led SRC with 19 points. Mia Rodriguez added 10 points in the loss.
Boys Soccer
Hilmar 3, Escalon 0 in Hilmar — The second-seeded Yellowjackets earned a return trip to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V championship game as they continue their bid for back-to-back titles.
Le Grand 1, Waterford 0 in Waterford — The Bulldogs’ Abel Velazco finished a forward ball from Yahir Gonzalez in the fifth minute for the only goal of the game.
The No. 3 seeded Bulldogs are trying to win a third consecutive section championship. Le Grand will face No. 1 Encina at noon at Liberty Ranch High School in Galt on Saturday.
Livingston 1, Liberty Ranch 0 in Livingston — The only goal of the game came on an own goal as the No. 2 seed Wolves (16-2-3) advance to the Division IV semifinals on Tuesday against No. 3 Natomas.
Galt 4, Atwater 0 in Galt — The No. 9 Falcons fell to the top seed in the Division III playoffs. Atwater finished the season with a 14-12-2 record.
East Union 2, Pacheco 1 in Los Banos — The No. 6 seeded Lancers knocked off the No. 3 Panthers. Yahir Chavez scored Pacheco’s goals. The Panthers finish the season with a 21-4-2 record.
This story was originally published February 20, 2020 at 11:11 PM.
