BERKELEY, CA -- McClatchy High, the school named after a late Sacramento newspaper man, made big news of its own on Friday night with a riveting victory.
The Lions defeated Serra-Gardena 65-61 in double-overtime to win the girls' Division I CIF-State basketball title.
The McClatchy girls, after securing the title, rushed to the area under their cheering section and tried to high-five their classmates 20 feet above. That proved fruitless, but it hardly dampened Lion spirits.
"This is unreal," said McClatchy coach Jessica Kunisaki of the first girls' state title in any sport for a school from her district. "It's hard to imagine doing this coming from where we did a little bit ago. It's unreal."
McClatchy was just 11-17 in 2010-2011, one year before Kunisaki took over the program.
That was then.
Friday night in prime time the Lions were kings, soaring to a 10-point lead near the end of regulation, frittering away the lead and then seizing back control of the game in the second OT to claim the victory before a partisan NorCal crowd at antiquated Haas Pavilion.
"This was it," McClatchy senior guard Lauren Nubla said. "Our seniors are not coming back. We needed to give it our all. Like Gigi (Garica) said in the huddle, it was all heart. We were dead tired and there was a lot of anxiousness, but it was more exciting than anything."
McClatchy took a lead it never relinquished in the second overtime on a putback by Destiny Lee, making it 57-55 with 2:18 left. Seventeen second later Garcia picked up her fourth foul and Serra's Briana Johnson made a free throw for 57-56.
Then Garcia went to work, making two consecutive layups as McClatchy surged to a 61-56 lead with 52 seconds left before their delirious red-clad fans. But the Cavaliers didn't wilt, pulling to within two points on a 3-pointer with 39 second left.
That's when the Lions' Alex Washington stepped to the fore, making a layup with 20 seconds left and two free throws with four ticks left to hold off gritty Serra.
"It was crazy," Kunisaki said. "But who wouldn't want to play extra minutes in your last game? It was a roller coaster leading by 10 points and then letting them back in the game, but at the end we stayed composed. Nobody broke down."
McClatchy had its McCollapse earlier, watching a 46-36 lead with 1:11 left in regulation vanish in nearly the blink of an eye. Johnson tied the game at the buzzer by stepping back and nailing a 3-pointer from beyond the top of the circle. After the ball dropped through the net, she pumped her fist and Serra's fans went bonkers.
McClatchy led 55-51 with 1:46 left in the first overtime, but Brijaye Brackett swished a 3-pointer with 1:35 left to pull the Cavaliers to within one and Camille Hailey tied it 31 seconds later with a free throw.
Neither team could score in the final minute.
Serra coach McKinsey Hadley was classy in defeat as at least one Cav pulled her warm-up over her head in the press conference to hide her tears.
"Heart was not a problem with these young ladies," Hadley said. "They played hard and you could not ask for anymore. It didn't end the way we wanted but it wasn't for lack of trying. I wouldn't rather go to battle with any other team."
Hadley also heaped praise on the six-foot-two Garcia, who led McClatchy with 19 points, 20 rebounds and six blocked shots.
"She played well and it spoke highly for her," the Serra coach said. "Their other big (Lee) also hurt us. When a team has two bigs like that it's extremely hard to deal with. Their championship was well deserved."
Nubla backed Garcia with 15 points and five assists and Lee had 12 points for McClatchy (27-7).
Johnson led Serra (23-11) with 21 points and Brackett had 14 points and 15 rebounds.
Hadley pointed toward a lack of free throw attempts, poor free throw shooting and missed layups as his team's downfall. The Cavaliers went 7-of-15 from the line, while McClatchy made 17-of-24.
Despite the struggles, Serra led 14-3 early and 25-18 at the half, only to see McClatchy claw its way back into it and eventually claim the title.
Somewhere up above the old newspaper man, C.K. McClatchy, must have been smiling.
