Saturday night in the battle for a spot in the CCS playoffs, the Live Oak girls basketball team beat visiting Lincoln 35-30 in overtime.
“It was a crucial game because both of us were tied for second,” said Live Oak coach Mike Kiefer. "Whoever won got the leg up to potentially gets the second seed for the BVAL tournament.”
Live Oak (15-7, 9-3 BVAL-WV) is now tied for second with Andrew Hill in the Blossom Valley Athletic League West Valley Division.
"We were tied in second with them and Andrew Hill, so it is a revenge game," junior Jocelyn Mendoza (18 points) said. "When we play against them it’s always close. We just needed to come out with a win tonight.”
Last time these two teams played back in early January, Lincoln won.
“I knew it would be a tough game tonight,” said Lincoln coach Keith Crowther, “We’re the same team, if you take names away and you look at it; we have (balanced scoring) and they have (balanced scoring). We have good guard play and they have good guard play. But Live Oak wanted it more today.”
Starting off the season with such a young team, Lincoln (9-11, 8-4) has exceeded Crowther’s expectations of a .500 record. He is proud of his girls no matter what the outcome of the game.
“It was emotional; we’ve never beaten that school as far as I can think of in the history of the rivalry between the two,” said Kiefer.
"Both our programs are only graduating a couple girls. Unfortunately we’re going to be losing Courtney Thomson and Alex Balala, two wonderful seniors and great leaders. As far as being young, it’s only uphill from here. We can only get better. We have four freshman, one sophomore, and four juniors. We look forward to more battles like this. Both games this year were decided by five or six points, so the future for both programs holds bright.”
To start off the game, the Lions were able to score twice before the Acorns could gain some traction. Senior captain Melina Garcia (12 points) led the Lions in scoring. Throughout the game, the teams were enmeshed in a close battle. The score was tied in the first, third, and fourth quarter. Live Oak was able to pull away at half with a 15-12 lead, but Lincoln came out of the halftime break and quickly took a 19-17 lead.
“It was a very tough defensive game,” said Kiefer, “Points were hard to come by. Whenever we had a timeout or even at halftime, we kept stressing (to) keep doing what you’re doing and points will come.”
With Mendoza tying the game 27-27, she recalls: “Our defense today is what won our game. Our offense wasn’t there first and second quarter. Kiefer kept telling us to put the ball in the basket and once one falls the hoop gets bigger and bigger.”
Mendoza scored 10 of her 18 points in the second half. And it was Mendoza who scored four points in the overtime to give her team the lead. Both teams had more free throws in overtime than field-goal attempts.
“At the end we hit our free throws when they were crucial,” said Kiefer.
Looking forward to the post season, Mendoza knows what her team needs in order to keep winning.
“Sticking as a team and playing well; playing together. That’s the only way we can naturally win.”
