NEWPORT BEACH — Sage Hill girls basketball coach Kerwin Walters knew as the playoffs approached exactly what his late friend Kobe Bryant would be saying about the Lightning:
They needed to finish close games.
Sage Hill did just that deep in the fourth quarter Friday, June 11, and earned its first CIF Southern Section championship.
The No. 2 seeded Lightning used a 5-0 run with 1:12 left in the fourth quarter to rally for a 62-55 victory against visiting top-seeded Ontario Christian in the CIF-SS Division 3AA final, capping a run for a squad that stuck together after the death of Bryant and eight others.
Sage Hill players celebrate as the buzzer sounds after defeating Ontario Christian in the CIF-SS Division 3AA championship game at Sage Hill in Newport Beach on Friday, June 11, 2021. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)
Sage Hill head coach Kerwin Walters, center, gets doused by his assistant coaches after the team defeated Ontario Christian in the CIF-SS Division 3AA championship game at Sage Hill in Newport Beach on Friday, June 11, 2021. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)
Sage Hill players pose for a team photo after defeating Ontario Christian in the CIF-SS Division 3AA championship game at Sage Hill in Newport Beach on Friday, June 11, 2021. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)
Sage Hill players take a selfie after defeating Ontario Christian in the CIF-SS Division 3AA championship game at Sage Hill in Newport Beach on Friday, June 11, 2021. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)
Sage Hill’s Emily Elliott and Isabel Gomez are congratulated by fellow students after the team defeated Ontario Christian in the CIF-SS Division 3AA championship game at Sage Hill in Newport Beach on Friday, June 11, 2021. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)
Sage Hill’s Zoie Lamkin, right, shoots a three-pointer over Ontario Christian’s Kailee Briggs for the lead during the CIF-SS Division 3AA championship game at Sage Hill in Newport Beach on Friday, June 11, 2021. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)
Sage Hill players triple team on Ontario Christian’s Chloe Briggs during the CIF-SS Division 3AA championship game at Sage Hill in Newport Beach on Friday, June 11, 2021. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)
Sage Hill’s Emily Eadie, center, shoots under pressure as Ontario Christian’s Kiley Goedhart, left, and Kailee Briggs defend her during the CIF-SS Division 3AA championship game at Sage Hill in Newport Beach on Friday, June 11, 2021. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)
Ontario Christian’s Chloe Briggs reacts as the team is trailing by six points with a few seconds left in the game during the CIF-SS Division 3AA championship game against Sage Hill at Sage Hill in Newport Beach on Friday, June 11, 2021. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)
Ontario Christian’s Taryn Mouw, front, and Chloe Briggs walks away after receiving runner-up plaque after being defeated in the CIF-SS Division 3AA championship game against Sage Hill at Sage Hill in Newport Beach on Friday, June 11, 2021. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)
Sage Hill head coach Kerwin Walters gets doused by his assistant coaches after the team defeated Ontario Christian in the CIF-SS Division 3AA championship game at Sage Hill in Newport Beach on Friday, June 11, 2021. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)
Ontario Christian’s Chloe Briggs, left, and Sage Hill’s Katherine Righeimer battle for the loose ball during the CIF-SS Division 3AA championship game at Sage Hill in Newport Beach on Friday, June 11, 2021. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)
Ontario Christian’s Chloe Briggs, center, shoots under pressure over Sage Hill’s Katherine Righeimer, left, during the CIF-SS Division 3AA championship game at Sage Hill in Newport Beach on Friday, June 11, 2021. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)
Sage Hill’s Isabel Gomez, center, goes up for the basket past Ontario Christian defenders during the CIF-SS Division 3AA championship game at Sage Hill in Newport Beach on Friday, June 11, 2021. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)
Freshman Zoie Lamkin, one of Bryant’s players on his travel team, drilled a 3-pointer on a skip pass from freshman Kat Righeimer, another former Mamba travel player, to give Sage Hill the lead for good at 57-55. Lamkin, who struggling shooting throughout, then forced a steal that led to a basket by junior Isabel Gomez, and the run was on for a squad that lost some close games in the San Joaquin League.
“We thought we were going to lose but we have that Mamba Mentality to keep going and push until the end,” said Lamkin, who scored five of her eight points in the fourth.
Gomez scored nine of her team-high 21 points in the fourth to help the Lightning (18-6) outscore the Knights 21-8. She heard chants of “MVP!” as her team cut down the net.
Emily Elliott added 16 points while freshman Emily Eadie had 13 points and 15 rebounds.
Chloe Briggs led Ontario Christian (22-2) with 34 points, including five of the Knights’ 10 3-points. But Sage Hill applied a strong double team in the fourth to hold the sophomore to six points.
The Sage Hill squad was deeply affected by the helicopter crash that killed Bryant and eight others on Jan. 26, 2020.
Freshmen Righeimer, Lamkin, Eadie and Annabelle Spotts were members of the Mambas travel team that Bryant was en route to coach when he died.
The players lost three of their teammates in the crash – Bryant’s daughter Gianna, Alyssa Altobelli and Payton Chester – and defensive-minded assistant coach Christina Mauser (Edison). Also killed were Altobelli’s parents John, the Orange Coast College baseball coach, and Keri, and Chester’s mother Sarah and pilot Ara Zobayan.
The impact of the incident stretched to the Sage Hill community with Gianna’s older sister, Natalia, a student-athlete in the Lightning’s class of 2021.
Ontario Christian led by as many as five points in the first quarter but Sage Hill finished with a 16-15 lead thanks to a 3-pointer from the corner by Gomez with about 25 seconds left.
Gomez sank two 3-pointers from the corner in the opening period but Briggs drained a long shot — about 7 feet beyond the arc — to spark her nine-point opening frame.
Briggs also received early support from Madeline Martinez, who sank two 3-pointers in the first. The assistance kicked in again in the second quarter as Martinez and Briggs sank consecutive shots from the beyond the arc to open a 25-18 advantage and put the Lightning in chase mode.
The Knights led by as many as nine but Sage Hill trimmed its deficit to 30-26 at intermission after a jumper near the foul line by Elliott on an assist from post Eadie.
Briggs led all scorers at the break with 16 points.
This post first appeared on ocregister.com
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