STUDIO CITY — When the fourth quarter turned to overtime against Harvard-Westlake on Thursday, it became money time for the Chaminade girls basketball team.
It’s a phrase repeated at practice when it’s time to finish a drill strong, as they would do in a game. Coach Jason Ancrum took inspiration from the final minutes of NBA games when players earn their value and money.
The Eagles’ money was in the form of a 61-59 overtime win over the Wolverines that secured them second place in the Mission League.
“It’s go time. We’re all in,” Natalie Patrick-Aguilar said of money time. “The entire team, like, from the players on the court, to the people on the bench, everyone just gets so hyped because that they know or we all know that it’s our time to go.”
Harvard-Westlake’s Deana Thompson (24 points) tied the game at 52-all to send the game to overtime and hit a jumper to make it 54-all in overtime, but Chaminade made timely free throws to get ahead and Patrick-Aguilar made the game-winning layup with 3.7 seconds left in the game for a total of 16 points.
“I caught the ball, turned around, I just kind of went for it,” she said. “I was like you know what, this is it.”
Sierra Canyon had already locked up the Mission League title, leaving Harvard-Westlake (11-17 overall, 5-5 in Mission League) and Chaminade (16-10, 6-4) to battle for second place.
The Wolverines opened the game on a 6-0 run, forcing Chaminade to gain its composure as the first quarter went on. Mya Patrick made two 3-pointers to bring the score to 11-9 with roughly three minutes left in the quarter.
Thompson came up with a block, then took the ball across the court for a layup to keep Harvard-Westlake ahead. The Wolverines had another block moments later, but Chaminade tightened up defensively to keep them from putting together a scoring run.
Valentina Guerrero scored on a putback to start the second quarter and set the tone for the Wolverines’ rebounding. Guerrero…
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