Basketball Roundup: Atwater High girls to play for for first section title in 37 years
After a frantic, fast-paced first half that saw the ball fly up and down the court, the message from the Atwater High girls coaching staff to its players at halftime was to calm down.
Despite making just 4 of 17 free throws, the No. 2-seeded Falcons only trailed No. 6 Grant by three points at the half of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II semifinals in front of a large crowd at Falcon Arena on Tuesday night.
“Our coaches did a good job of calming them down and then we had a 6-foot-7 guy come in and he calmed them down,” said Atwater coach JR Davis. “I think it all worked. He came in and made them all close their eyes and gave them a little speech.”
The 6-7 guy was Merced Union High School District superintendent Alan Peterson, who spoke to the team at the half.
“Mr. Peterson came into the locker room and told us to close our eyes and picture being in an arena so big you can’t see all the way up the stands,” said Falcons senior Karissa Hukill. “He said, ‘Imagine yourself crying during the national anthem. Picture yourself there.’ We all did and that got us ready to go.”
The Falcons (26-5) opened the third quarter with a 17-2 run and took control of the game as their full-court pressure wore down the Pacers (20-10).
Atwater sprinted its way to a 70-54 win to punch its ticket into the section championship game on Thursday against top-seeded Christian Brothers at the Golden One Center in Sacramento at 6 p.m.
The Falcons will try to win their first basketball section title since 1988.
“Our job isn’t finished,” said Hukill, who scored a game-high 31 points.
Jolie Hart connected on three 3-pointers on her way to 16 points for Atwater.
Davis went 11 players deep in his rotation with players like Vianey Hernandez, Natalia Melgoza and Riley Leonardo making big contributions off the bench.
“All those 6 a.m. practices during Thanksgiving break, Christmas break and over President’s week paid off,” said Atwater center Cami Gibson, who played big inside.
Grant senior Nerissa Hamilton came out scoring 22 points in the first half, but also had to shoulder most of the ball handling against the Falcons’ relentless full-court pressure.
Hamilton scored one point in the second half.
“We knew she was going to score and we probably wouldn’t be able to stop her, but at some point she wouldn’t be able to do what she did in the first half,” Davis said.
Hamilton wasn’t the only Grant player to lose steam. A lot of the Pacers players had their hands on their hips during stoppages in play in the second half as they tried to catch their breath.
“We knew they were going to run and they have a lot of speed, but we knew our conditioning would pay off in the end,” Davis said. “The girls also relaxed a little bit. Once we calmed down, we were comfortable and we were good.”
Boys Basketball
El Capitan 57, Burbank 42 — The 10th-seeded Gauchos (20-10) pulled off their third consecutive playoff victory on the road, upsetting No. 6 Burbank to earn their first shot at a section championship.
Diego Ultreras continued his torrid play. After scoring 23 points against No. 2 Placer in the second round, Ultreras poured in 28 points against the Titans. Ultreras drained three 3-pointers and made 11 of 12 free throws to help ice the victory.
“He knows how special this is, it started our first playoff win, and now he and all the other guys, they just want it,” said El Capitan coach Adrian Hurtado. “So he is putting his head down, being a senior, and he’s just responding in a way that I can’t even describe right now.”
A.J. Jones added 13 points for the Gauchos, who will face No. 1 Christian Brothers in the section championship at the Golden One Center in Sacramento at 4 p.m. Friday.
“I think that’s probably the most special part for me, is that I get to see the joy of others from our success,” Hurtado said. “Not many teams are able to do this, so being able to have this opportunity is surreal.”
Stone Ridge Christian 65, Elite 56 — The top-seeded Knights punched their ticket to the section title game for an opportunity to win back-to-back championships.
Stone Ridge Christian (22-8) will face No. 2 Sacramento Waldorf (27-2) in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division VI championship game at noon Thursday at the Golden One Center. The Knights defeated the Waves 50-37 in the semifinals last year.
Daijon O’Neil led SRC with 16 points against No. 5 Elite. Marcus Parker made four first-half 3-pointers and finished with 14 points. Tyler McCabe added 13 points for the Knights.
