In a game characterized by its constant lead changes, the Thousand Oaks Lancers emerged victorious against the Glendora Tartans 62-52 in the CIF-SS Division 3AA Championships at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
“It was a pretty hectic start to the game, both teams going up and down the court," Thousand Oaks head coach Chris Benton said. "Typical of us to have a little feel out process in the first quarter. We didn’t play the greatest defense but we stayed in the game and we were getting some pretty big shots.”
The Tartans came into the game expecting to win their first CIF championship in Glendora’s history. Ranked 107th in the state, the Tartans were confident they could take on the 209th-ranked Lancers in the championship.
“Everyone underestimated us this entire season, but it's great to see that they were wrong, obviously because we just won CIF. We had this confidence all along, we knew we were taking this when we were on the bus here. We said let's just go in here and take the win,” said Kyra Zovak.
For the first quarter, the Tartans’ goal seemed entirely in reach, the score 18-17 as the two teams battled for an advantage on the other. As the game progressed however, Thousand Oaks began to distance themselves from the Tartans. By halftime the score was 40-31.
“At that point it was about executing and making the shots, and came down to who had the better defense coming down the stretch,” Benton said.
Glendora's own Alexis Lowden and Karlee Fink both held their own as the top scorers for the Lancers, each bringing in 13 points for the Tartans. Zovak also scored 11 points but wasn’t able to reach her full shooting potential due to the Lancers' superior defense.
“I think once we got down a little bit, in this environment, we started to feel the pressure of it in this moment,” said Glendora head coach Adam Nunemaker.
The third quarter worked as a turning point in the game, as the Lancers began to dominate the court, deterring the Tartans from scoring and putting up multiple shots. Thousand Oaks scored twice as much as Glendora throughout the quarter.
By fourth, the Tartans were unable to come back from the lead the Lancers held.
