With less than three minutes left to play in Friday night's Central Section Division II girls basketball final at Selland Arena, Garces High freshman Lisamarie Sanchez swiped Hanford's inbounds pass but the ball bounced off her hands and out of play.
That was about the way the evening went for the second-seeded Rams as No. 1 Hanford rolled to a 73-44 victory.
"We didn't face anybody of this caliber all year," Garces head coach Tod Denison said. "They're a very good team and that's why they're one of the best in the state."
Hanford is ranked No. 8 in the state and No. 3 in D-II.
The Bullpups, 25-4, were playing in their fourth straight section final; they won D-III last season. Garces, 29-2, was the defending D-IV champion and took a 25-game winning streak into Friday's game.
"It feels great to win it," Hanford senior Courtney Rose said. "Not too many people can say they've been to a Valley final four times and have won two."
Rose, a forward/guard, led a balanced Hanford offense with 12 points; she also had a team-high six rebounds. Sarina Sayama added 11 points for the Bullpups, and Sarah Mendoza and Taryn Sayama scored 10 each.
"Any given night anyone can be our high scorer," Hanford coach Tom Parrish said. "That's our team. I leave most games not knowing who scored."
Hanford shot a blistering 56.3% from the field in the first half for a 39-20 advantage. But the Bullpups went stone cold in the third quarter, shooting 6.7% from the field. Still, they led 47-31. Hanford turned it back up in the fourth quarter, and ended up shooting 42% for the game.
"You get up on a team by 20 points and the kids, their intensity drops," Parrish said. "But we stepped it up early in the fourth quarter and off to the races we went. That's what I'd like to do the whole game.
"I don't think we played our best game tonight."
Hanford led 24-13 at the end of the first quarter with a team-leading six points and three rebounds by sophomore center Maggie Rickman. Sarah Allen scored six and Caitlin Bernardin chipped in five for the Rams in the first quarter.
The Bullpups defense grabbed six steals in the first quarter and by halftime had doubled that. By the end of the game Hanford had piled up 27 steals, including six by Mendoza.
Allen finished as the Rams' top scorer with 13 points. Bernardin, who came in averaging 15.7 points per game, scored 11; she grabbed a team-leading 10 rebounds.
Both teams advance to the Southern California regionals; seedings will be done Sunday.
Friday's four-game paid attendance at Selland was 2,500.
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Basketball Gallery 8: Section Finals
Girls Basketball Scores
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