‘To fall short, it hurts.’ Merced girls basketball goes cold in section title game
The Merced High girls basketball team had to feel good coming out of the first quarter. The Bears had fought off nerves to take a four-point lead over No. 2 Christian Brothers.
However, the Bears went cold.
Fifth-seeded Merced managed just six points in the second and third quarter combined behind as the Falcons (24-8) ran away with the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III championship with a 50-33 win at Golden 1 Center on Friday afternoon. The loss snapped a 19-game winning streak for Merced.
Christian Brothers outscored Merced 29 to 6 in the second and third quarters.
“We worked so hard for this and to fall short, it hurts,” said Bears senior Kailtynn Perez, who led Merced with 12 points and seven rebounds. “We took a second in the locker room to be sad. But we have to hold our heads up for next week.”
Merced (27-4) may have fallen short on its quest for the program’s first section championship, but the Bears’ season isn’t over.
Merced still has the NorCal playoffs. The matchups will be released on Sunday night.
The Bears had a tough time finishing inside against Christian Brothers’ 2-3 zone, especially with a pair of 6-footers in Bri Shine and Laney Prichard protecting the paint.
Shine, who is headed to UC Davis, finished with 11 points and 17 rebounds. Christian Brothers out-rebounded Merced 48 to 32 in the game.
The 5-foot-8 Perez drew Shine on defense.
“I watched a lot of film on here so I knew she could do everything,” Perez said. “It was tough. I tried to keep the ball from her and box her out the best I could. I wish I could have done better.”
After a slow start, the Falcons scored the first 11 points of the second quarter to open up a 20-13 lead and took a 27-17 lead at the half.
Christian Brothers opened up the lead to 38-19 after the end of the third quarter.
Merced never got going on offense. The Bears made just 12 of 50 shots from the floor for a 24% shooting percentage.
The spacious NBA arena impacted the Bears’ outside shooting as Merced missed its first 17 3-pointers and finished just 1 of 18 from beyond the three-point line.
“We’re used to having a big, old wall behind the basket,” said Merced senior Sierra Smith, who finished with 10 points. “Here, the seats behind the basket keep elevating higher and higher. We’re not used to all that space. You could also see the glare of the lights on the backboard. It was really hard to adjust”
It was Merced’s fourth appearance in a section championship game and first since 1992.
“I’m so proud of this team,” Smith said. “We’ve come so far since our freshmen year. Yeah, we lost the game today, but we got to play in an NBA arena. Not many teams get that opportunity.”
This story was originally published February 28, 2020 at 6:34 PM.
