The Hilltop High School girls basketball team entered the San Diego Section Division III playoffs with a 14-game winning streak. During that span, the Lady Lancers picked up the Metro-Pacific League championship with a perfect 6-0 mark while also defeating eight non-league opponents.
Hilltop received the No. 2 seed for the playoffs and the winning streak hasn’t stopped there.
The Lady Lancers sprinted past their first-round opponent, 15th-seeded Tri-City Christian, by a score of 62-20 on Feb. 23. Hilltop then eliminated seventh-seeded Valley Center, 59-31, on Feb. 26.
In both instances, the team’s secret to victory was encapsulated in one word: defense.
“I told the girls that if we play defense, we have a good chance to win,” veteran head coach Ray Jindra explained.
The Lady Lancers hosted third-seeded Lincoln in Tuesday’s division semifinals, with the winner advancing to Saturday’s division championship game at the University of San Diego’s Jenny Craig Pavilion.
Hilltop employed its vaunted defense to sterling effect, though with a twist.
“We were behind by 11 points at the half and we changed our defense to a thing called a 32 defense,” Jindra explained.
It worked. Lincoln was forced to tie the game to send it into overtime but the Lady Lancers prevailed in the extra session, 51-49, to draw top-seeded Mira Mesa in Saturday’s division final. Tip off is 11:07 a.m.
The CIF championship game appearance marks a milestone for Jindra. In 51 years as a coach, including 10 years at Hilltop, this will be his first trip to a division championship game.
Jindra was at a loss for words when queried about the feat.
“I told one of the parents I didn’t know what to say about that,” he said.
His players spoke volumes by their actions on the court.
“It could have been easy for the girls to quit when we were 11 points behind, but they didn’t,” Jindra explained. “They kept fighting through the whole game. Lincoln pressed us. They’re a good team. We developed some plays that involved a couple of their players.”
Aislinn Arias led the Lady Lancers (22-5) with 16 points. Hilltop led by one point in overtime when she scored a bucket with three seconds left to ice the game.
Brittany Gafare contributed 13 points while sister Bree Gafare added 12 points, 11 steals and five blocked shots.
Mira Mesa (18-13) topped fourth-seeded Oceanside, 52-48, in Tuesday’s semifinals. Lincoln finished the season 17-11.
Brittany Gafare had 20 points and 18 rebounds in the Lady Lancers’ quarterfinal win while Arias dropped in 19 points and Bree Gafare had 13 points.
“I was really nervous about that game,” the veteran Hilltop coach explained. “Valley Center had a 6-2 girl and a 6-4 girl and they played in a tough league. They played a lot of top teams just like we had. I told the girls if we stopped them up front, we had a good chance to win. We stopped them up front.
“We had two treys that broke their back. We had only 12 turnovers. We played a great game. I expected them to beat us. Our defense did really well. They had 25 or 26 turnovers.”
