Mizusawa Leads Acalanes Over Harvard-Westlake

In little more than 90 seconds, junior point guard Corrie Mizusawa of Lafayette Acalanes High turned defeat into victory against Harvard-Westlake Saturday at Arco Arena.

Mizusawa scored nine consecutive points in the final minute and a half to wipe out a four-point deficit and lift the Dons to a 47-42 victory over Harvard-Westlake in the state Division III final.

The game was filled with missed shots and missed opportunities, but Harvard-Westlake (29-6) still was in position to win after Brooke Porter made a three-point basket with 2:05 left to give the Wolverines a 42-38 lead.

Harvard-Westlake made 27.8% of its shots, Acalanes 23.7%. So the Wolverines were feeling good with their four-point cushion--perhaps too good.

“I think we may have celebrated a little prematurely,” said Wolverine Coach Brian Taylor.

Enter Mizusawa, who had been mostly ineffective against the Wolverines’ zone defense. She launched a three-point shot from NBA range with 1:38 left and made it. Wolverine players were stunned.

“They took the momentum back so quickly it shocked us,” Taylor said.

With 1:10 left, Mizusawa scored on a layup for a 43-42 Acalanes lead. Eight seconds later, Mizusawa stole the ball, was intentionally fouled by Michelle Ghodsian and made both free throws. She converted two more free throws with 14.7 seconds left, giving her 22 points.

Doing her best to rally the Wolverines was 6-foot-2 Omelogo Udeze. Udeze scored nine of her 20 points in the fourth quarter and finished with 18 rebounds and four blocked shots.

Atherton Sacred Heart 48, Santa Ana Calvary Chapel 43--Calvary Chapel’s 23-game winning streak ended one game short of the Division IV state championship as Sacred Heart won its fifth title.

The Gators (30-6) trail only Brea Olinda, which has won seven.

Courtney Laird scored eight of her 15 points in the third quarter as Sacred Heart extended a 24-21 halftime lead to nine points.

Sacred Heart was leading, 44-35, midway through the fourth quarter when the Eagles rallied one last time.

Shayna Fabre made two free throws.

T.J. Gause made a short basket, and Cathy Joens scored four seconds later after stealing the ball.

Calvary Chapel trailed 44-41. But the Eagles missed their next seven shots.

“We hit those,” Calvary Chapel Coach Russ McClurg said, “we win the game.”

Joens scored 18 points, making nine of 26 shots. She missed all eight of her three-point attempts.

Janessa Jurian scored all 10 of her points in the first half and finished with 11 rebounds for Sacred Heart. Freshman point guard Melissa Bayol added 10 points for the Gators.