After a runner-up finish in Division V last year Rolling Hills Prep-San Pedro proved the second time is a charm, and kicked off the six game schedule on Friday at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento by winning its first CIF state championship in school history.
Despite trailing 29-25 at halftime, and most of the third quarter, the Southern Regional Division IV champions are the 2018 CIF Division IV state champions after a 57-53 victory over Woodside Priory-Portola Valley in a game where they trailed 29-25 at halftime, and most of a third quarter that had three ties and four lead changes. Each team had a five point lead as its high-water mark in a game that was close from start to finish.
Woodside Priory took its last lead at 41-40 on a basket by lone senior Tatiana Reese with just over a minute left in the third quarter, but shortly thereafter she picked up her third foul with 40.5 seconds left in the third. Then, on the first possession of the fourth quarter Reese fouled out with 7:42 remaining to play and that greatly hurt the Panthers chance of winning.
“We came into this thing as the number six seed so we really didn’t get much respect,” Rolling Hills Coach Richard Masson said. “Coming up here was like our fourth road game and the closest one was two hours away,”
All the driving was more than worth it.
The Huskies opened at home with a 30-point win over Vista from the CIF San Diego Section, and then they went south to the CIFSDS and took out No. 3 seed Eastlake-Chula Vista in an 81-48 victory. Next they went to Ventura and left with a 70-53 victory over Foothill Tech. Finally, for the Southern Regional title game the Huskies went to the high desert in Palmdale and came home with the hardware after a 55-47 victory over fourth-seeded Knight.
Rolling Hills Prep (31-2) was led by sophomore Macy Pakele with a double-double 16 points and 10 rebounds with five assists, fellow sophomore Aly Maxey had 16 points, and 6-foot-4 freshman center Clarice Akunwafo had a double-double 12 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots, including one down low on Woodside Priory 6-foot-4 junior post Ila Lane with less than 10 seconds left and the Huskies clinging to a 55-53 lead.
Lane led both teams in scoring, rebounding and blocks with 20, 17 and six but Reese was the only other player in double-figure scoring with 12 for a Panthers team that made 15 less free-throws than Rolling Hills Prep but outrebounded them 51-32.
The bottom line for Woodside Priory (17-15) was the foul trouble and turnovers were their undoing.
The Panthers committed 23 fouls to 13 for Rolling Hills and that resulted in the Huskies going 24-of-31 from the free-throw line as opposed to Woodside Priory’s 9-of-15 from the charity stripe. Rolling Hills only committed seven turnovers to 18 for Woodside Priory.
Even after all that Rolling Hills needed everything it had to hold off Woodside Priory.
“It’s tough the way it came down but hopefully we’ll come out stronger from this,” Lane said.
“A great run and season but we came up short,” Priory Coach Buck Matthews said.
What it really came down to is the Southern Regional champions wanted it a little bit more.
“We did a better job attacking then they did,” said Masson, who before taking the helm at Rolling Hills four years ago coached boys for 22-years at Carson and seven years at Long Beach Jordan. “The main thing I told the girls is we have to play harder than they do.”
Rolling Hills Prep certainly will be in a higher division next year but with every starter and major contributor back Masson and his Huskies girls should be a contender.
