BURLINGAME, CA — Having let a seven-point lead with under two minutes left slip away, the Burlingame girls’ basketball team found themselves down by one with 12.9 seconds remaining. The host Panthers got past visiting Balboa’s press and found Michala O’Donoghue open in the right corner, and O’Donoghue drained a three-pointer as time expired to give Burlingame a 43-41 victory.
“Lately, my shot has been really off,” O’Donoghue said. “I knew that I had to make up for the foul (which led to Balboa’s go-ahead free throws), so I wanted the ball, and as soon as I got it that I was going to shoot it, and it was going in.”
The Panthers led by one at the start of the final period, but two clutch baskets from freshman Samantha Kershner and the steady play of Amber Moss inside opened up a 40-33 Burlingame lead. But the Buccaneers worked their way back, led by Darcy Woo and Esther Liu, and were down just one when O’Donoghue fouled Seu Ufau as she was going up for a shot with 12.9 seconds to play.
Ufau made both free throws, setting up O’Donoghue’s heroics. Her game-winner was the only three-pointer the Panthers made the entire game.
“What I’m most proud of about the girls is they stayed calm, even though they were making silly mistakes,” Burlingame coach Joe Dito said. “They didn’t allow those to get them down, they played hard, they played tough. A lot of the time you just have to fight through adversity like that, and I’m so proud of all of them.”
Burlingame (4-3) started the game hot, and after the first quarter it seemed like the Panthers would run the Buccaneers out of the building. Nicole Brunicardi made two layups and a free throw in the first two minutes of the game to help open up a 9-2 Panther lead, and Samantha Goodwill hit a buzzer-beating jumper and the end of the first to put Burlingame ahead 11-4. Moss led all scorers with 14 points, and Brunicardi finished with 12.
But Balboa (1-5) came right back in the second quarter, led by a strong inside presence from Aaliyah Gilmore and two key baskets from Liu, and led 17-16 at halftime. Liu led the Buccaneers with 11 points, Giselle Jimenez added eight, and Woo and Gilmore chipped in seven apiece.
The teams went back and forth in a tightly contested third period. Woo hit a three-pointer to open up a 21-16 Balboa lead, but a three-point play from Brunicardi and a driving layup by Moss tied the game at 21.
In the final minute of the third, Ufau made a layup to tie the game at 26, but with the Buccaneers up one, Moss converted a lay-in in the closing seconds of the quarter to give the Panthers a 28-27 lead entering the fourth.
The basket started a 13-5 Panther run before Balboa came storming back with eight straight points, leading to O’Donoghue’s game-winner. After Moss and Brunicardi led the way for Burlingame in the first three quarters, they only combined for four of the Panthers’ 15 points in the fourth quarter, with Kershner and O’Donoghue, among others, stepping up.
