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DIVISION V GIRLS’ PLAYOFFS : Christian Gets It in Gear, Overcomes Nine-Point Deficit

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Blame it on nerves, overconfidence, the 10:30 a.m. start.

Whatever the reason, it wasn’t until the second half that the Christian High girls’ basketball team calmed down, woke up and began playing the aggressive defense they’re known for.

Christian made a 20-point turnaround in the second half to defeat Calvin Christian, 63-51, in the Division V championship game at the Sports Arena.

“Usually we go after people; I don’t know why we didn’t (in the first half),” Christian Coach Ken Weeks said. “We looked like we were afraid to pass, to rebound, to penetrate, scared to put people on them.

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“At halftime, I told them I expect to win this. To win by what got us here--relentless, aggressive defense.”

Trips to the free-throw line and effective rebounding helped turn the game in the Patriots’ favor.

Christian had 26 of its 33 rebounds in the second half. Stacey Patsko led the way, grabbing 11 of her 13 rebounds in the final half.

“I knew I needed to get out there and hustle,” Patsko said. “Maybe I was a little overconfident the first half.”

After trailing, 34-25, at halftime, the Patriots crept to within five (35-30), mostly on free throws. In the second half, 16 of Christian’s 38 points came from the line.

With 42 seconds remaining in the third quarter, Diana DeGrenier, who made all six of her points on three trips to the line, made two free throws to give Christian its first lead since the first quarter. Annette deJong answered with a basket for the Crusaders, but with five seconds left in the quarter, Tiffany Stutz scored to give Christian the lead (44-43) for good.

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The Patriots began to built on that one-point lead in the fourth quarter, scoring six points in a row before Corinna Vander Woude went to the line for Calvin Christian. The Crusaders’ first field goal of the fourth quarter came with 3:21 left to play. Christian outscored the Crusaders, 19-8 in the final quarter.

Stutz led the Patriots with 31 points and six rebounds. Stutz, a junior, finished the regular season averaging 22.2 points per game but scored 35 and 37 points in Christian’s two early-round playoff games. Saturday, Stutz was 11 for 21 from the line and 10 for 24 from the field.

Calvin Christian took its first lead, 13-12, with less than a minute remaining in the first quarter. The Crusaders began the second quarter with a 16-12 lead but increased it to nine (30-21) with two minutes remaining in the half.

“We decided we had to get it together,” Stutz said. “We had to stop (deJong) from ducking and driving. We had to toughen up on defense.”

DeJong scored only five of her 15 points in the second half.

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