Southern Section Basketball Playoffs : 4-A Girls : Katella Loses 14-Point Lead but Edges Woodbridge, 59-57

Lisa Wehren stepped to the free-throw line with 3 seconds to play and a chance to send Thursday night’s Southern Section 4-A girls’ playoff game between Woodbridge and Katella high schools into overtime.

How Wehren, Woodbridge forward, got to the line was at least as amazing as the fact that she actually had a chance to tie the score.

But Wehren missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity and Katella’s Wendy Carlson grabbed the rebound and dribbled out the final seconds.

And Katella, which almost let a 14-point lead slip away in the final 3 minutes 10 seconds, held on for a 59-57 quarterfinal-round victory at Katella.

Fourth-seeded Katella (24-3) advances to the semifinals to face top-seeded Palos Verdes Saturday. Woodbridge ends its season 21-6.

For most of the game, it appeared Katella had a lock on the semifinals. But a scrappy Woodbridge team outscored the Knights, 16-4, in the final 3:10 and came within two free throws of pulling off an upset.

Woodbridge had the lead down to 59-57 on a three-pointer by Wehren with 45 seconds left. Katella worked the ball around, but Wehren tied up Katella’s Karen Jensen and Woodbridge regained possession of the ball with 18 seconds left.

What followed wasn’t particularly well-executed basketball, but it sure was exciting.

Woodbridge, with the ball under its basket, inbounded the ball to point guard Leslie Rathbun, just as Coach Eric Bangs had directed during a timeout.

“The ball goes to Rathbun and she goes to the basket,” Bangs said after the game. “She’s won three games for us with that play.”

Rathbun got to the midcourt line, then lost control of her dribble. For roughly 10 seconds, players from both teams scrambled after the ball. Finally, Wehren, flat on her stomach, got enough control to tap it toward Rathbun, who was standing in front of the Woodbridge bench.

Katella’s Chris Gellel dove across Wehren’s back, trying to get the ball before it got to Rathbun, and was whistled for a foul.

Katella called timeout in order to freeze Wehren.

“I was just hoping she was as shaky as I was,” Katella Coach Barb Bausch said.

Wehren’s shot was just a shade too long and Carlson pounced on the rebound, dribbled into the corner and was tackled by Woodbridge players as the buzzer sounded.

Joni Easterly had 25 points and Angie Gomez 15 to lead Katella. Rathbun had 22, Kris Willis 11 and Wehren 7 for Woodbridge.

Palos Verdes 66, La Habra 26--Host Palos Verdes took a 23-2 first-quarter lead then extended it to 38-8 at halftime. Heidi Burge scored a game-high 23 points and sister Heather added 12 for Palos Verdes (24-3), which advances to Saturday’s semifinals against Katella. Ana Kristiche led La Habra (19-7) with 10 points.