Crescenta Valley girls’ basketball makes history with first CIF crown
Perhaps it was fitting the Crescenta Valley High girls’ basketball team had its team picture taken at the free-throw line a few minutes after the program won its first CIF Southern Section championship Saturday.
Plenty of pivotal moments played out at the free-throw line in the final moment of regulation, culminating in Crescenta Valley securing a 37-36 victory against top-seeded Mira Costa in the Division I-A title game at Azusa Pacific University’s Felix Events Center.
Crescenta Valley’s aspirations for the title were nearly dashed when Mira Costa’s Halle Maeda was fouled taking a three-point attempt with three-tenths of a second left and Crescenta Valley clinging to a 37-35 lead. Maeda made the first free throw before missing the next two. Crescenta Valley grabbed the rebound and a celebration ensued on the court.
“It looked like we had won it a couple of times and then there was the foul on the three-pointer,” said Crescenta Valley Coach Jason Perez, whose team will participate in the upcoming CIF state playoffs. “I feel for [Maeda]. A lot of pressure. Lucky for us. Sometimes you get the breaks.”
Crescenta Valley (24-9) turned the ball over twice on consecutive possessions with less than 90 seconds remaining.
The Falcons, who finished second in the Pacific league, missed the front ends of one-and-one free throws twice, giving Mira Costa (22-9) an opportunity for a comeback.
Michelle Gee of Crescenta Valley missed the front end of a free throw with 19.1 seconds left in the game. Alisa Shinn missed a free throw with 6.5 seconds left before Maeda missed two of three free throws inside the noisy arena.
“It’s a very hard situation, but that didn’t cost us the game,” said Mira Costa Coach John Lapham, whose team fell in the title game for the third straight season. “[Crescenta Valley] did a phenomenal job jamming the lanes and it cut down on our penetration.
“We gave ourselves a chance. We just didn’t do some of the things we had been doing well [throughout the season] and it made a difference.”
Shinn, who finished with a game-high 14 points and 18 rebounds, said the final seconds proved to be excruciating.
“We were thinking this wasn’t going to happen to us,” said Shinn, who had seven points and nine rebounds in the second half. “We did everything we could to get to this game. Luckily, she missed those last two shots.”
Said Polin Megerdichian, who finished with eight points: “We worked so hard for it. It just came to us.”
A layup by Josie Brock, who finished with six points and eight rebounds, gave Crescenta Valley a 35-28 lead with 5:18 left in the fourth quarter. Maeda scored to pull the Mustangs, who finished second in the Bay League, to within 37-35 with 2:15 to go.
Crescenta Valley held a 32-24 lead after the third quarter.
Previously, the Falcons gained some huge momentum, closing out the second quarter on a 9-0 run to grab a 21-14 halftime lead. A layup just before time expired by Shinn closed out the first-half scoring.
Crescenta Valley received seven points from Caity Bouchard, including a basket with 40 seconds left in the second quarter to give the Falcons a 19-14 lead.
Mira Costa held a 9-4 advantage after the first quarter.
Perez, who took over the program in 2006, said the Falcons turned their season around during the second half of league.
“We felt like we were a playoff-built team,” Perez said. “We knew defense would give us a chance to get to the championship game and that our offense would be good enough.
“We had a comeback win against [second-seeded] Huntington Beach, held off Chino Hills and today and we made school history.”
Mira Costa received 13 points from Allie Navarette and 11 from Maeda.
Crescenta Valley, which was making its first finals appearance since 1997, also included players Georgina Kregorian, Kaitlyn Jabourian, Michelle Garabetian, Mary Baun, Rachel Dayag, Arpineh Grigorian, Senayt Tassew, Karine Hairepetian and Ani Markarian. The assistant coaches are Mike Flot, Leanah Esmaili, Owen Keenan and Chris Jabourian.
