SANTA CLARA, CA - The Lynbrook Vikings downed the St. Francis Lancers in Saturday evening’s Central Coast Section (CCS) Division II Championship game, 40-34, to take home the CCS crown.
The game was a story of comebacks, as the Lady Vikes (19-8) lost to the Lancers (16-12) in the Northern California state championship game last year, and found themselves facing a six-point deficit at halftime.
Nonetheless, Lynbrook played a strong second half to take over the game and ultimately secure the victory.
“Down the stretch, it showed that they wanted this one really badly,” said Lynbrook coach Cynthia Ting. “So I’m really glad that they got it.”
The game was very back-and-forth early on, as the teams appeared to be well-matched. The Lancers began to pull away in the second quarter, at times leading by up to seven points. With their pressure man defense, they made life difficult for the Vikings, who were forced into making turnovers and taking bad shots.
St. Francis guards Isabel Knox and Samantha D’Costa led their team in scoring in the first half with six points each, including two 3-pointers from Knox. Meanwhile, senior forward Lauren Johnson set up pick-and-rolls to drive to the basket throughout the game, adding six points mainly off lay-ups.
“We knew they were going to play zone,” said St. Francis coach Brian Harrigan. “We don’t have a great inside presence, so our focus was scoring in transition, but they didn’t allow us to get into as many of those situations as we wanted.”
At halftime, St. Francis went into the locker room with a 19-13 lead after two relatively low-scoring quarters. Despite being on the losing end of the scoring board at the half, Lynbrook came out in the third quarter looking calm and composed.
“We were right where we wanted to be,” said Ting. “We just needed to calm down. The players knew what we had to do, they just needed to get into the right mindset to do so.”
The third quarter served as an offensive explosion for the Vikings, as they put up more points than they had in the entire first half. What helped was improved ball movement, especially in the direction of senior center Sara Dyslin, who was a major contributor for the Vikings with 22 points and nine rebounds. With Dyslin dominating the boards and in the paint, guards Dolly Yuan and Paige Song were able to better facilitate the offense and set up plays.
“We added another play, which really fueled our offense,” said Song. “The energy level went up and we were able to move the ball around and move it into the post. We all wanted it so badly that we said ‘It’s time to step it up, we can’t let down now, and we gotta finish.’”
When Dyslin began to receive more touches and put up more shots, the Lancers seemed unable to find an answer.
“[Dyslin] is just a good player,” said Harrigan. “And we knew coming in that we had to stop [Dyslin] and [Song]. I think we could have played with a little more intensity inside, we could have put forth more of an effort in the post.”
Near the end of the third quarter, shooting guard and senior Renee Huang hit a crucial 3-pointer to tie the game at 26, and shift the momentum entirely in favor of the Vikings, who soon took a lead they never relinquished.
In addition to their improved offensive play, the Vikings tightened up their zone defense, as well. This enabled them to force turnovers and create more scoring opportunities.
“Our defense has always been what has gotten us this far,” said Ting. “The girls kind of had an idea of what St. Francis’ offense was, so they knew where the passes were going to be.”
As for St. Francis, the second-half breakdown came down to a lack of execution, according to Harrigan.
“In these situations you need to make plays and big players make plays,” said Harrigan. “[Dyslin]’s a senior and she made plays, and we did not.”
Now, the Vikings find themselves in a similar spot as last season, as they set their sights on the Northern California state tournament in hopes of another appearance in the championship game.
“It feels really good,” said Ting. “Last year, there was so much hype around us that we wanted to show that we could do it again. They worked and they did not give up, and that’s what we’ve been doing all season.”
