Crescenta Valley Girls Dogged by Muir’s Press in 62-59 Loss

The Crescenta Valley High girls’ basketball team suffered its first Pacific League defeat of the season when Muir made four of four free throws in the final 22 seconds to hang on for a 62-59 victory Tuesday at Muir.

The Falcons (15-5, 5-1 in league play) trailed the entire game, but drew to within 58-57 when guard Sarah Hagman made two of three free throws after being fouled while shooting a three-point shot with 1 minute 12 seconds to play.

Hagman scored 23 points.

Following two free throws by Mustang forward Kyla Johnson, Crescenta Valley center Heather Green made a layup to cut the deficit to 60-59 with 10 seconds left.

But Muir’s Wendie Donahue closed the scoring two seconds later with two free throws, and Green’s three-point attempt at the buzzer bounced off the rim.

“I thought it was going in,” Falcons’ Coach Marc Ward said of Green’s shot.

“But we played really poorly. It’s the first time I’ve ever had a team struggle against the press. Ever.”

The Falcons were bothered by Muir’s full-court pressure defense and committed a season-high 26 turnovers. They also missed 10 of 20 free throws.

Muir (13-7, 4-2) was led by Shannon Lee’s 18 points. Johnson added 17.

Crescenta Valley’s Green had 21 points, 18 rebounds and seven blocked shots.

Hagman, who set a Southern Section single-game record by making 13 three-point shots last Friday against Arcadia, made only three of 11 three-pointers.

“Athlete for athlete, we’re a better team,” Muir Coach Corinne DeJong said. “In the first game (against Crescenta Valley, a 17-point Falcon victory earlier this month), we played man-to-man defense. This time, we went with a rotating zone, and we showed up to play.”