Division I Girls : Oakland Fremont Stops Morningside, 53-52

The Lady Monarchs of Morningside High School lost the state championship in a stalling game they could neither explain nor do anything about.

Morningside did not score in the last 4:03 of Saturday night’s State Division I girls’ basketball final at Oakland Coliseum Arena and lost, 53-52, to an Oakland Fremont team that the Lady Monarchs had dominated for the first three quarters.

“I knew it wasn’t over, even when we had the eight-point lead,” Coach Frank Scott said of his Morningside team, which led, 52-44, with 4:03 remaining. “We just had a lack of intensity tonight. We let them slip back into it.”

How did it happen?

“I guess we kind of slowed down a little,” admitted Morningside junior guard JoJo Witherspoon.

“This game snuck up on us,” 6-foot 5-inch sophomore center Lisa Leslie explained with tears in her eyes. “God, we were up .”

Perhaps Shaunda Greene, Morningside’s All-American forward, summed it up best: “We made simple-minded mistakes, and we let it slow down.”

In the first half, and even into the fourth quarter, it was looking like another wrap for Morningside, which had won 33 of its past 34 games and 24 straight. The Lady Monarchs were doing the same things that led them to the Southern Section 4-A title--running, getting the ball inside to Leslie and Greene, and most important, pressing on defense.

Leslie ruled the baseline, blocking 7 shots--three leading to fast-break baskets for Morningside--in the first half, and limited Fremont’s inside powers, Debra Davis and Sonjhia Fleming, to 16 first-half points.

The Lady Monarchs led at halftime, 34-24, but early in the third quarter, Fremont began to hint at what was to come. Morningside scored just seven points in the quarter but still led, 41-35.

The margin had increased to eight, 52-44, on a Greene layin. Fremont continued as it had, scored nine points in the four-minute span, and took the lead and the victory on Davis’ free-throw with 11 seconds left.

Fremont (17-11), which earlier in the season took all 11 losses because of an ineligible player, was led by Davis with 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Fleming, with 16 points and 16 rebounds. Greene, who fouled out with 1:03 remaining, led Morningside with 15 points, and Leslie added 13 points, 12 rebounds and 10 blocks.