Eagles' shot at girls title fails again

Published online on Friday, Mar. 06, 2009

The third time did not prove to be the charm for the Fresno Christian High girls basketball team.

Powered by 17 points from Mackenzie Cunningham and two free throws by Lily Takahashi with 2.9 seconds remaining, No. 2 Coast beat the top-seeded Eagles 44-42 Friday afternoon at Selland Arena in the Central Section Division V final. It was the third straight year the Eagles fell in the final.

"It's pretty hard," said Fresno Christian senior Larissa Hensley, who led the Eagles with 16 points. "But we still have state playoffs so we have to get over it."

Both Fresno Christian, ranked No. 6 in the state in Division V, and Coast advance to the Southern California Regionals. Seedings will be done Sunday.

"We haven't played well the last two games now," Eagles coach Josh Tosland said. "If the girls want to do something in state we'll have to fix that."

Fresno Christian takes a 21-6 record into the regionals. Coast is 18-9.

In the final, a pesky Coast defense held the Eagles to 28.1% shooting from the field. Coast shot 31.8%.

"Our goal was to come out and play strong defense and rebound the ball and play with a lot of heart," Coast coach Jerry Gibson said. "We held them to 40 points and that was because of effort, heart and determination. It was a team effort."

The score was tied 10-10 at the end of the first quarter. The Eagles took a 26-24 lead into halftime on the strength of 13 points by Hensley and seven rebounds by Paige Armstrong-Maltos.

Cunningham led Coast with 11 first-half points, and Takahashi had seven rebounds (13 in the game).

"It was a game of spurts," Cunningham said. "We came out strong in the first quarter but in the second quarter we faltered."

Fresno Christian clung to a 35-34 lead going into the fourth quarter but then scored just seven points. The lead changed three times in the quarter.

Then with 2.9 seconds left Takahashi stepped to the line.

"I told myself, 'It's just another shot,' " Takahashi said. "I knew I had to make them and I did."

It was an arrow to the heart of the Eagles, who lost to Mission Prep in the previous two finals.

"It's hard to get here three years in a row; that's a big opportunity," Tosland said. "This really hurts. But win or lose they've experienced something a lot of teams don't get a chance to."