Dreams can die that quickly.
With fewer than 20 seconds left in California's Southern Section quarterfinal playoff between then-No. 2 Long Beach Poly and Santa Monica, a team with eight losses, the score was tied. Poly had the ball, and after a Jackrabbits' miss, they got an offensive rebound. The ball came to Poly's outstanding guard, Ariya Crook-Williams, alone at the 3-point line.
Crook-Williams has made big plays for the Jackrabbits all year long – indeed, throughout her career – so rather than run the clock down from 12 seconds to three or four, she took the 3. And missed.
The ball went out of bounds to Santa Monica, and the Vikings got the ball to senior guard
Bianka Balthazar with time winding down. Balthazar drove into the lane, where a Poly post came from the weak side to block the shot – but Balthazar, a canny veteran, made sure there was contact. Even though the block was clean, there was body contact, and so Balthazar went to the line with 1.4 seconds left.
She made the first free throw, and just like that, Poly's hopes for a fifth straight appearance in the California Division I title game, and maybe a national championship, evaporated.
What made the loss even more painful is that in much of California, one postseason loss doesn't necessarily eliminate a team from the rest of the playoffs – but to get to that point, Poly had to beat Santa Monica. Now, it will be the Vikings who take on now-No. 2 Mater Dei in the semifinals, and the Vikings will move on to the Southern California Regionals, win or lose.
Naturally, there was much whining from the Poly adherents about the last-second whistle, and claims that "the players should decide the game." In truth, though, the players did decide the game: Balthazar broke down the defense and made sure there was contact – and since that particular play would be a foul for the first 30 minutes of the game, it certainly wouldn't make sense to have it not be a foul in the last two minutes, especially since Balthazar did everything right to give her and her team the best chance to win.
MaxPreps girls basketball playoff brackets* * * * *
The other big move in the top 10 came after Princess Anne avenged an early defeat at the hands of Lake Taylor in the quarterfinals of the Virginia playoffs Saturday. More than 8,000 people watched the Cavaliers hang on for a dramatic 66-63 victory between two teams that, aside from results against each other, have gone 161-2 over the past three seasons.
Head-to-head in that span, they have now split six games, and this one reflected how evenly matched the teams are. There were 13 ties and 11 lead changes, and until Amanda Andrades hit two free throws in the waning seconds, the issue was very much in doubt.
Six-foot-3
Elizabeth Williams, considered the top player in the Class of 2012, had 23 points, 12 rebounds and seven blocks for Princess Anne, while Crystal Leary (21 points, nine rebounds) and Jasmine Cuffee (19 points), topped Lake Taylor.
The Cavaliers had to come back Monday and play Woodside in the Eastern Regional championship game, winning 56-42 behind Williams' triple-double (12 points, 16 rebounds and 11 blocks), and now must win three more to claim the Virginia title.
Lake Taylor, like Long Beach Poly, though, has nothing left but the postseason banquet.
MAXPREPS XCELLENT 25 GIRLS BASKETBALL RANKINGS PRESENTED BY THE ARMY NATIONAL GUARD1. (1)
Brea Olinda (Brea, Calif.) 28-0
2. (3)
Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) 27-1
3. (4)
Bolingbrook (Ill.) 27-2
4. (5)
Spring Valley (Columbia, S.C.) 28-0
5. (7)
Potter's House Christian (Jacksonville, Fla.) 32-1
6. (8)
Shabazz (Newark, N.J.) 28-0
7. (10)
Princess Anne (Virginia Beach, Va.) 28-1
8. (13)
Twinsburg (Ohio) 21-0
9. (12)
Midwest City (Okla.) 25-0
10. (11)
Heights (Wichita, Kan.) 20-0
11. (16)
Neptune (N.J.) 22-1
12. (14)
Riverdale Baptist (Upper Marlboro, Md.) 29-4
13. (15)
North Little Rock (Ark.) 27-0
14. (2)
Long Beach Poly (Calif.) 25-3*
15. (18)
Webb City (Mo.) 25-2
16. (17)
Butler (Matthews, N.C.) 30-0
17. (20)
St. Mary's (Stockton, Calif.) 23-2
18. (19)
Westbury Christian (Houston) 37-1
19. (21)
Detroit Country Day (Beverly Hills, Mich.) 19-0
20. (23)
St. John's (Washington, D.C.) 25-2
21. (nr)
Clackamas (Ore.) 23-1
22. (22)
Canyon (Texas) 36-0
23. (24)
Archbishop Spalding (Severn, Md.) 27-2
24. (nr)
McKinley (Canton, Ohio) 22-0
25. (25)
Konawaena (Kealakekua, Hawaii) 31-1*
Dropped out: No. 6 Lake Taylor*, No. 9 Riverdale (Murfreesboro, Tenn.)
*Season complete
