High school girls basketball: No. 2 Bishop McNamara steals 57-55 victory over No. 1 Ontario Christian at Hoophall Classic

No. 2 Bishop McNamara (Forestville, Md.) upended No. 1 Ontario Christian (Ontario, Calif.) 57-55 on Friday in the marquee game at the Hoophall Classic.

The Mustangs outscored the Knights 10-0 over the final two minutes as sophomore Jaylah King scored seven of her game-high 21 over that span. Qandace Samuels, the game's Most Valuable Player, ended with 20 points and 12 rebounds.

Ontario Christian (21-1) got 25 points from top-rated junior Kaleena Smith while Tatianna Griffin chipped in 17 points.

The Knights led 46-38 at the start of the fourth quarter but saw the edge trimmed to 53-47 on a pair of Samuels free throws with 2:37 left. Smith bumped the lead back to eight for Ontario Christian with blow-by layup at the 2:06 mark. But that's the last time the Knights would score.

Tegan Primus hit the first of two free throws as Samuels grabbed an offensive board and King converted to cut the Ontario Christian lead to 55-50. Following a timeout, Dani Robinson's missed 3-pointer led to a fast break where King drove to the bucket and scored with 42 seconds left. A steal led to two King free throws with 33.9 left as Bishop McNamara trailed 55-54.

The swarming McNamara defense again swiped the ball as Samuels hit down low for the go-ahead bucket with 1.2 seconds remaining before King added one of two freebies for the final margin.

The Knights were coming off a huge 96-87 double-overtime victory Saturday over No. 3 Archbishop Mitty (San Jose, Calif.) 96-87 behind Smith's 50 points and were in the first of three games against top national competition. They play No. 14 St. John-Vianney (Holmdel, N.J.) on Saturday at Hoophall and then go against Long Island Lutheran (Brookville, N.Y.), the top team in the National Top 10, on Monday.

The victory by Bishop McNamara (13-2) adds another marquee win to its resume. They beat then-No. 1 Archbishop Mitty in the semifinals of the Nike Tournament of Champions before Christmas and backed that up with a tournament title victory over Long Island Lutheran.

The Mustangs erased multiple deficits of nine or more as they trailed 22-13 early in the second quarter and then 51-42 midway through the final stanza.