Blackshire Awakens to Lift San Clemente

In 15 years of coaching, Mary Mulligan has learned a thing or two.

Such as when to take a player to the side and deliver the inspirational speech of a lifetime--like the one she gave Megan Blackshire at the end of the third quarter on Saturday at the Pyramid in Long Beach.

Blackshire, who had done practically nothing in the first 24 minutes, scored eight points in the fourth quarter and lifted top-seeded San Clemente to a 54-49 victory over third-seeded Irvine that gave the Tritons the Southern Section Division I-AA championship.

“She said, ‘We need the best eight minutes of your life,’ ” Blackshire recalled after scoring all her points in the final five minutes, including a basket as the shot clock expired with 45 seconds to play that gave the Tritons a 51-46 lead. “And I tried my hardest to give it to her.”

Blackshire was one of the big reasons Mulligan and the Tritons (28-3) won their first section title in three tries, all coming in the last four years.

“Great players rise to the occasion,” Irvine Coach Dennis Hurley said of Blackshire. “She did a great job.”

But Blackshire, a 6-foot-1 junior center, wasn’t the only reason. Ashley Housley, a reserve forward averaging five points a game, scored 10 points, including an 18-footer with 2 minutes 3 seconds left that gave San Clemente a 48-46 lead. It was the last of 12 ties or lead changes in a game that was tied, 34-34, going into the fourth quarter.

Kim Buffum, a senior guard, scored only three points, all free throws, all in the fourth quarter. She gave San Clemente a 49-46 lead with 1:42 left, and a 52-49 advantage with 21 seconds to go.

And then there was freshman Lindsey Pluimer, a 6-2 forward, who carried San Clemente most of the way, scoring 22 points with six rebounds. It wasn’t until her final basket, a layup as the clock expired after her fourth steal, that San Clemente could catch its breath.

“Never felt comfortable until the buzzer,” said Kristin Jenkins, who had nine points and three steals for the Tritons. “Any second, Irvine could score a three.”

The primary reason for the Tritons’ discomfort was Ali Grechko, the hottest player in the arena.

Grechko, a senior who scored 19 points, had made five consecutive shots, including a three-point basket with 29 seconds remaining that cut Irvine’s deficit to 51-49.

“I thought we had it from there,” said Irvine’s Kristin Thawley, a junior forward who scored eight.

But they didn’t, thanks to Buffum and Pluimer. The freshman’s final contribution in a game she described as one of her best came on defense. She knew what most everyone knew, that Irvine’s last chance was going to Grechko. With the clock ticking down, Pluimer stepped in front of a pass aimed at Grechko from Staci Morita near midcourt.

Pluimer scored, and San Clemente’s players fell to the floor in celebration.

“Pluimer didn’t play like a freshman,” Hurley said.

Irvine’s seven players--six of whom played--began sobbing moments after the final buzzer. After a remarkable season in which the Vaqueros finished 24-7, Hurley doesn’t expect they will get an at-large berth in the Southern California Regional Division I playoffs that begin Tuesday.

Thirty minutes after the game, players still struggled to control their emotions.

“It hurts so much,” said Thawley after playing San Clemente for the third time this season.

Irvine won the first meeting, 78-77, in overtime after wiping out a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit. San Clemente won the second game, 43-40.

“Irvine is one of the few teams that matches up to us,” said Mulligan. “Usually, we have an advantage.”

There was no appreciable advantage, other than Jody Carlson feeling under the weather. Carlson, Irvine’s 6-foot-1 senior center, managed only six points on two-for-14 shooting.