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MANHATTAN BEACH — The first half didn’t go as planned for the Oakwood girls basketball team.
The Owls were hoping for a blistering start Saturday in the CIF Southern Section Division 4A championship game against Notre Dame Academy at Mira Costa High, but making just two of 22 shot attempts in the first half left an icy residue that put the Owls behind the eight ball.
But something happened in the second half that melted the ice, as Oakwood started to hit its shots, which initiated what seemed like an improbable comeback after the first 16 minutes of play.
Freshman Jamie Lac hit a 3-pointer with 19 seconds left in the game to give Oakwood its first and only lead of the night, a 46-45 advantage over Notre Dame Academy.
Just as the Owls seemed poised to pull out an unlikely win, Sophia Petro and the Regal Gryphons squashed their hopes, as Petro scored to seal the 47-46 win for Notre Dame Academy.
“I was definitely nervous but I just thought about what our team wanted and we wanted to win,” Petro said about her game-winning shot. “I had that in my mind and put away all my self-doubt which helped me make the shot.”
“I think we struggled in the first half. We’re fairly young and I think it kind of showed,” Oakwood head coach Angel Hardy said. “But we fought in the second half, made big shots. To come up one point short in the championship game speaks volumes. You always want to win but we competed and that’s all I ask of them.”
Lac led the way for the Owls, finishing with a team-high 18 points, three rebounds and two steals. She had just two points in the first half but kept her team in the game by scoring 16 points in the final two quarters.
Foul trouble kept Lac from being her typical aggressive self on the defensive end, which also led to easy opportunities for Notre Dame Academy.
“I think it’s just playing smart, I feel like I could have been…
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