Fresh off their 53-44 win against Clovis West in Fresno on Tuesday, March 15, the girls basketball team was ready for another title against Chaminade in the CIF State Open Division SoCal Regional championship at the Pyramid Saturday night.
Before Saturday’s game, Coach Carl Buggs had hoped that “the girls come out and play hard and follow the game plan they had planned.”
Things were starting out smooth for the Lady Jackrabbits as they tied with Chaminade 8-8 with 3:52 in the first quarter. However, even with pretty good defense, Poly still trailed 18-9 at the end of the first quarter. The girls started the second quarter with a rocky start, and it was hard for the Jackrabbits to execute all the way through, falling behind Chaminade 29-25, by halftime.
The third quarter started off better, with Poly and Chaminade tied at 30 points. The Jackrabbits finally led 35-31, three minutes into the third quarter. Towards the end, Chaminade was up by one against Poly 38-37. Poly senior Da’Jah Jackson hit a huge three pointer that put Poly up again by 40-38, deep into the 4th quarter. It was back-to-back minutes before points were scored again.
Action packed and intense, with only 49 seconds left in the game, Poly junior Ayanna Clark shot one free throw to tie up the game 47-47. A Chaminade turnover left Poly the ball to tie the game with only 27 seconds left. At that point, Coach Buggs called a timeout to regroup.
Another outstanding shot by Jackson put Poly up 49-47 with 10 seconds left. This time, Chaminade called a timeout. With the clock ticking down, it was Chaminade’s Leonna Odom who made a shot that bounced off the rim, then bounced twice on the heel before falling through the hoop. That ended the game 50-49, with Chaminade winning the state title.
Jackson stated after the game that “the shot bouncing 3 times before going in was heartbreaking, and it still feels like a dream and not reality.”
All in all, the Lady Jackrabbits had a fantastic season, filled with hard work and memories to last a while. Great season, ladies!
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