The Montgomery High School girls basketball team has done a heap of winning the second half of the season. All that winning has landed the newly crowned Southern California regional champion Lady Aztecs in Friday’s Division V state championship game.
Tip-off against the Northern California regional champion Oakland Wildcats is at 10 a.m. at Golden 1 Arena in Sacramento.
“It feels great, amazing,” Montgomery head coach Bracy Smith said following his top-seeded team’s heart-pounding 55-51 regional championship game victory against sixth-seeded Escondido Charter in an all-San Diego Section match-up Tuesday in Otay Mesa. “It’s a tribute to all the hard work the girls have put in It’s been challenging.”
The San Diego Section Division III back-to-back champion Lady Aztecs enter Friday’s state title game with a 25-11 overall record and 14-game winning streak; Oakland, the No. 13 seed in the NorCal regional, is 22-10 riding a streak of four consecutive upset wins in the regional playoffs, including No. 7 Crystal Springs Upland, 62-50, in Tuesday’s final.
It’s the first trip to the state championship game for any basketball team at Montgomery, either girls or boys.
“The team is playing at a high level right now,” Smith said. “Everyone is on the same page.”
After breezing past their opening two regional opponents — 88-27 over 16th-seeded Temecula Prep and 75-41 over eighth-seeded La Mirada — Montgomery’s latter two games in the 16-team regional draw were definitely no holiday. It took everyone playing together to eclipse fourth-seeded Reedley Immanuel, 51-49, in Saturday’s regional semifinal and the Lady White Tigers, the reigning Division IV section champions, in Tuesday’s climactic regional championship game.
Saturday’s semifinal game started slowly for the Metro-South Bay League co-champion Lady Aztecs but ended with a bang.
The host team fell behind 15-9 in the first quarter and trailed 23-15 at halftime in an upset bid by the Lady Eagles (26-10).
A role reversal occurred in the second half as a revived Montgomery squad quickly tied the game, 23-23, and moved ahead, 25-23, in the opening minutes of the third quarter.
From there it was a dogfight between the teams, each wanting to reach the regional final.
Immanuel went ahead 27-25 before the Lady Aztecs turned the tables for a 30-29 advantage.
The Lady Eagles led 31-30 through three quarters.
Montgomery took a 39-33 lead on a jump shot by junior Cary Brown as the hosts gained momentum in the fourth quarter. Sophomore Paula Zumstein made the score 41-35 before Immanuel’s Ainsley Jackson narrowed the Lady Aztec lead to 41-37 with 17.4 seconds left in regulation.
Semifinal win
Photos by Phillip Brents
Zumstein missed a pair of free throws that could have iced the game with 6.3 seconds to play. Immanuel took the inbound pass down court and sank a shot at the buzzer for a dramatic 41-39 final. The score stood as no additional foul shots were whistled.
“The first half we missed a lot of chances,” Smith said. “We started real slow. We adjusted our defense in the second half to slow the tempo to slow down their offensive drives. Our defense made some good stops. Every time-out was all about defense.”
That strategy opened up the Montgomery offense.
Zumstein led the hosts with 18 points while classmate Genevieve Whitehead had 11 points. Brown and senior Jordan Whitehead each had five points. Senior Susanna Paliza had two points.
Zumstein had eight rebounds and six blocks while Paliza had seven boards.
Tuesday’s regional championship game was a mirror image of Saturday’s game.
The Lady Aztecs took command from the start, building what seemed like an insurmountable 23-5 first quarter lead. But the game once again hung in the balance in the final seconds as the Lady White Tigers got physical and pared down that big lead.
The Montgomery lead was down to 35-24 at halftime and Lady Aztec fans had to hold their breath when Jordan Whitehead went down with an injury with 5:52 to play in the game with the hosts holding an 11-point lead, 49-38.
The Lady Aztecs had led by as much as 16 points late in the third quarter but that margin was down to seven points with 4:42 left in the fourth quarter.
Montgomery led by nine points on a trey by Genevieve Whitehead — one of her seven three-pointers on the night — but a series of miscues and quickly unraveled the game for the hosts.
The Lady Aztecs led by just three points, 54-51, with 1:09 remaining — a trey from overtime, gulp.
Escondido Charter took a timeout with 12.9 seconds left with possession of the ball. However, Zumstein made a game-saving rebound on a scramble under the hoop.
Additional play stoppages occurred with 4.5 and 0.5 seconds to play with the Lady Aztecs still holding onto that precarious three-point lead.
Paliza went to the charity stripe on the latter play stoppage, missed the first foul shot but sank the second to push the hosts in front by four points to remove the danger of a potential game-tying three-point shot.
The Lady White Tigers (24-12) in-bounded quickly and got off a long shot that went well wide and short of the mark. No foul shot was called and, with a huge sigh of relief, the final score stood.
“We were leading but we lost our momentum in the second quarter,” Smith said. “We wanted to get that momentum back in the second half and play solid defense. The free-throws and three-pointers kept them in the game.”
“It was definitely scary, but we reassured each other, settled down on defense and shared the ball on offense,” Genevieve Whitehead said. “It’s exciting going to state, I’ve never been there. Going with my sister is a blessing.”
“Honestly, it’s amazing considering how we struggled at the beginning of the season (eight losses in the opening 13 games, including a four-game losing streak),” Jordan Whitehead said. “We’ve learned to push together and stay together as one unit.”
“Fun times,” Montgomery athletic director Ed Martin said.
Escondido Charter upset No. 2 Savanna (26-8) by a score of 44-37 on Saturday. The fourth-seeded Lady White Tigers defeated sixth-seed Santa Fe Christian (18-13) by a score of 54-44 in the section championship game to highlight a double bracket-bust.
Escondido Charter opened the state playoffs with a 66-24 win over 11th-seeded Foshay, then upset third-seeded Antelope Valley, 67-60, in the second round. The upset trail continued for the Lady White Tigers with a 44-37 knockout punch against second-seeded Savanna in the semifinals.
Eastern exposure
Division I section girls runner-up Grossmont (26-8) rebounded in the Division IV regionals with three consecutive wins to advance to Tuesday’s regional championship match.
The fourth-seeded Lady Foothillers defeated 13th-seeded Santa Paula (20-10) by a score of 60-41 in the opening round on Feb. 27 ,then eliminated fifth-seeded Crenshaw (18-10) by a score of 57-51 in the second round on Feb. 29.
Grossmont continued its winning ways with a 57-39 victory over top-seeded Newbury Park (27-8) in Saturday’s semifinals to draw seventh-seeded Fallbrook (26-8) in Tuesday’s regional final.
The state championship game is Saturday, March 9, in Sacramento.
Mt. Miguel, the Division IV section boys champion, received the No. 2 seed in the Division V regional and defeated 15th-seeded New Designs University Park (24-4) by a score of 53-39 in the opening round on Feb. 27.
The Matadors drew No. 7 Sherman Oaks Buckley in the second round but could not get past the Griffins, who extinguished Mt. Miguel’s fire with a 64-53 upset win.
Mt. Miguel led, 42-40, at halftime. The teams were tied 44-44 in the second half before Buckley pulled away 51-45 in the fourth quarter. The Griffins sank a three-point shot to go in front 60-53.
Buckley (21-12) advanced to meet No. 3 Verdugo Hills (24-11) in the next round (Saturday’s semifinals) but was eliminated by a score of 74-57.
The Matadors ended the 2023-24 season with a final 24-9 record, 8-2 in league.
Top-seeded San Pedro (23-12) was upset, 52-47, by No. 5 Bakersfield North (29-5) in Saturday’s semifinals.
Division III section boys runner-up Monte Vista (23-10) exited the Division IV regional playoffs following a 50-42 loss to ninth-seeded Estancia (24-10) in a first round contest that featured multiple lead changes.
The eighth-seeded Monarchs led, 36-34, at the end of three quarters.
Getting their kicks
Three East County soccer teams received admittance to the regional playoffs.
Division I boys section champion Steele Canyon (11-4-8) received the No. 8 seed in the Division III regionals and lost, 1-0, to top-seeded Newport Harbor (20-6-1) in the opening quarterfinal round.
Division III boys section champion Monte Vista (22-7-3) received the No. 4 seed in the Division IV regionals and defeated No. 5 Upland (15-5-4) by a score of 2-1 in the quarterfinals but was eliminated in the semifinals, 2-0, by top-seeded Oceanside (19-1-4).
Oceanside, the Division II section champion, went on to win the SoCal championship with a 3-0 win over third-seeded Lakewood (17-5-6).
Division II girls section champion Granite Hills (17-4-5) received the No. 8 seed in the Division III regionals. The Lady Eagles lost, 2-1, to top-seeded Granada Hills Charter (16-3-3) in the quarterfinals to end their season.
Making a splash
Section Open Division semifinalist Valhalla (20-8) received the No. 2 seed in the Division II regionals but was upset, 9-8, by seventh-seeded Centennial (27-2) in the opening round on Feb. 20.
2024 CIF Basketball State
Championships Schedule
Golden 1 Center, Sacramento
Friday, March 8
Division V Girls:: Montgomery: San Diego (25-11) vs. Oakland (22-10), 10 a.m.
Division V Boys: Verdugo Hills (25-11) vs. Athenian (27-8), noon
Division III Girls: Granada Hills Charter (21-11) vs. Caruthers (24-8), 2 p.m.
Division III Boys: Alemany (24-15) vs. Santa Cruz (27-6), 4 p.m.
Division I Girls: Bishop Montgomery (22-5) vs. Bishop O’Dowd (24-6), 6 p.m.
Division I Boys: St. John Bosco (27-7) vs. San Ramon Valley (29-7), 8 p.m.
Saturday, March 9
Division IV Girls: Grossmont (27-8) vs. winner of St. Bernard’s (29-5), 10 a.m.
Division IV Boys: Chatsworth (20-14) vs. Monterey (24-6), noon
Division II Girls: Harvard-Westlake (18-18) vs. Colfax (34-2), 2 p.m.
Division II Boys: Centennial, Bakersfield (28-7) vs. Oakland Tech (29-5), 4 p.m.
Open Division Girls: Etiwanda (31-3) vs. Archbishop Mitty (30-0), 6 p.m.
Open Division Boys: Harvard-Westlake (32-3) vs. Salesian College Prep (31-1), 8 p.m.
