Merced pulls another playoff upset. Bears will get a chance to win first section title
The Merced High girls basketball team is headed to the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
The Bears pulled their second playoff upset on the road, this time knocking off No. 1 seed Placer 54-50 on Tuesday in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III semifinals.
“I don’t think words can explain how I’m feeling right now,” said Bears coach Art Solis, whose team improved to 27-3 and extended their win streak to 19 in a row. “I’m feeling a variety of emotions. This is huge for us. This is huge for our nine seniors, myself and all these girls who put in all this work. This is big for Merced High.”
The Bears are looking for their first ever girls basketball section championship. Merced has been to the championship game three times. The last trip to the finals was in 1992.
The Bears earned their way to Sacramento by erasing a 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter. Merced trailed 43-32 after the third quarter.
The Bears then outscored the Hillmen (26-3) 22 to 7 in the fourth quarter.
Senior Khya Martin led the way for Merced, scoring nine of her 17 points in the fourth quarter. Junior Anaya Seals hit two crucial 3-pointers during the fourth-quarter comeback for six of her eight points.
Merced senior Sierra Smith finished with 16 points.
“We’ve had two rules we live by this season,” Solis said. “We finish strong and we always win the fourth quarter. All year those have been our two rules. That’s been a trend for us all season if you look at our games. Our girls came together, they believe in each other and they got it done.”
Merced will face No. 2 seed Christian Brothers (23-8), which defeated No. 3 Vanden 51-42 in the other semifinal, on Friday at 2 p.m.
This story was originally published February 25, 2020 at 10:26 PM.
