Two Seconds Short

McFarland Rallies to Stun Palisades, 68-66, in Regional Final

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Ahead by 15 points early in the third quarter of last Tuesday night’s CIF Southern California Regional Division III final, the Palisades High girls basketball team seemed well on the way to securing its first trip to the state championship in two decades.

However, momentum is fleeting and host McFarland suddenly caught fire from outside and pulled to within four points by the start of the fourth quarter, setting the stage for a tense, drama-filled battle to the final buzzer.

With time winding down and the score tied 66-66, guard Neli Diaz took a jumper from the elbow that clanked off the rim and into the arms of fellow Cougars captain Kathy Rodriguez, whose layup was rejected by Dolphins forward Jane Nwaba. Not giving up on the play, Diaz grabbed the loose ball and shot a one-handed floater from five feet that dropped through the net. Bedlam ensued as the clock ran out, but the officials conferred and two seconds were put back on the clock, giving Palisades a chance to force overtime with a two-point basket or win with a desperation three-pointer.            

Mercy Montgomery tried to inbound but the ball was deflected, taking half a second off the clock. On the second try, the hail mary pass to a leaping Nwaba at midcourt was knocked away by Rodriguez and rolled out of bounds as time expired—a gut-wrenching ending to a remarkable postseason run for the Dolphins.

“We practice that play so we knew what we wanted to do at the end and Jane is usually athletic enough to go up and get it but their girl did a good job of getting in front of her,” said Pali High pilot Adam Levine, the only coach in program history to lead the Dolphins to the City title in his first season. “We were feeling good at halftime and when you get comfortable things change real quick and it’s tough to bring it back. We got tight, they started winning the 50-50 balls and we weren’t in the right spots on offense.”

Nwaba led the charge with 21 points for the Dolphins and equaled the total of Diaz, the Cougars’ all-time scoring leader with over 2,000 career points. A poster hanging on the wall of the McFarland gym has one word on it: “relentless.” Coach Johnny Samienego used it to motivate his team.          

“At halftime I reminded them we’ve been here before,” he said. “We’ve been behind almost every game all year so I was like ‘let’s show what that poster is all about.’ Homecourt advantage was a huge factor. Palisades is an outstanding team and the outcome would’ve been different at their place.”      

Palisades players stood arm in arm in stunned disbelief through the postgame ceremony and many fought back tears while being presented their runner-up medals.

“When you lose you always think what you could’ve done differently” Levine said. “There are a lot of things I regret. We let them play at their tempo, we didn’t slow the pace down and that will keep me up at night. Without question what I’ll remember most about this group is the improvement. We really came together at the end.”

Palisades led by eight after one quarter and widened the gap to 45-31 by halftime after closing the second quarter on a 14-1 run.

McFarland took the lead, 58-56, with 5:12 left, but Nwaba hit a pair of free throws to tie it, 58-58.

Diaz made a jumper but Nwaba answered with two more foul shots to tie it, 60-60. Emily Gonzalez made two free throws with 3:23 remaining but 20 seconds later Sammie Arnold sank two of her own to pull the Dolphins even once again. Rodriguez was fouled making a layup but missed the ensuing free throw and Nwaba made a layup to knot the score at 64-64  with 2:17 left. The teams traded baskets again and the closing sequence had fans on both sides on the edge of their seats.

Arnold finished with eight points, Rose Morris and Janelly Portillo each had six, Alexis Pettis, Sofia Canter and Montgomery had five apiece, Demoni Lagway had four while Sydney Meskin and Gabby Ligon each had three for the sixth-seeded Dolphins.

Rodriguez had 20 points and Gonzalez had 14 for the top-seeded Cougars, who fell to Northern California Regional winner Oakland 51-35 in the state final Friday at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.

After taking third in the Western League and being seeded No. 1 in the City Division I playoffs, Palisades reeled off seven wins in a row to earn a two-and-half hour trip north to face the Central Section Division 4 finalists.

Morris hit a three-pointer with less than 10 seconds left to force overtime and Palisades went on to beat Carson 57-54 in the City Division I final. Then, after beating Brentwood, the Dolphins traveled to San Diego twice in three days to upset third-seeded Poway and second-seeded San Marcos in the regional tournament.       

Yesterday marked the 20-year anniversary of the Dolphins’ only other regional finals appearance  when Palisades beat Peninsula 53-41 at San Diego State. Seven days later those Dolphins fell to San Jose Archbishop Mitty 49-48 in the Division I state final.    

This year’s team not only captured Palisades’ sixth City girls crown, it racked up 26 wins—the third most in program history. The 2011-12 team, which won the City Division II title and reached the regional semifinals under Coach Torino Johnson, went 30-6 while the 1998-99 squad finished 29-5 under Coach Kevin Hall.