Victory by Poly Is a Hart Breaker

Stacy Delfosse scored 20 points, including five free throws in the final two minutes, to help Riverside Poly High to a 60-53 upset of Hart in the first round of the Southern Section Division I-A girls’ basketball playoffs Saturday night at Hart.

Playing with a sprained right ankle, the 5-foot-8 junior sparked the Bears’ 9-0 run late in the game with a 10-foot jump shot with 2:47 left.

Delfosse cut across the lane on an inbounds play while two teammates boxed out pursuing defenders, leaving her a clear line to the basket.

“That play got us back in the game,” first-year Poly Coach Salinda Mabie said.

It was the first playoff game in nine years for the Bears (15-8).

Melissa Harrison had 18 points for Hart (21-3) and Shannon Spielbuehler had 14, including three three-point baskets.

Hart, ranked No. 3 in The Times’ regional poll, was hampered by the loss of center Briana Kentfield, who had bronchitis and played only two minutes.

“Her presence in the middle was definitely missed, but it’s not the reason we lost,” Hart Coach Dave Munroe said. “They simply outplayed us.”

The lead changed hands 10 times and neither team led by more than five points before Harrison’s layup gave the Indians a 46-40 lead with 4:32 left.

“It looked like we were gaining control at that point,” Munroe said. “But then the bottom fell out.

“We pride ourselves to holding teams to 10 points a quarter. We held them to 26 points in the first half, then they scored 24 in the fourth quarter. No team has done that to us all year.”