ONTARIO – With four minutes left Saturday, the No. 1 girls basketball team in the country was on the brink of having its season end prematurely.
Seventeen consecutive points later, Ontario Christian was firmly in control.
Alanna Neale made the tying 3-pointer with 1:27 to play in regulation and the Knights went on to defeat Sierra Canyon 69-57 in overtime in a Southern California Regional semifinal game in the Open Division state playoffs at Ontario Christian School.
Saturday’s game was a rematch of a CIF-Southern Section Open Division pool-play contest Feb. 22 won by Ontario Christian 62-52, a game that the Knights never trailed.
The top-seeded Knights (30-1) will play host to No. 2 Etiwanda (26-5) in the regional final Tuesday in a rematch of the CIF-Southern Section Open Division championship game March 1 won 65-63 by Ontario Christian.
It will be the Knights’ first regional final appearance since losing to Lancaster in the Division 4 regional championship in 2020. The Trailblazers’ loss denied them of their fourth straight regional final appearance.
“I feel like it was a win-or-go-home game for both teams,” Ontario Christian sophomore guard Kaleena Smith said. “They’re not going to want to go home so they’re going to play until the end. I feel like we just pulled together as a team.”
Ontario Christian trailed for most of the second half, falling behind by as many as 10 points in the third quarter.
Emilia Krstevski made a free throw to give the Trailblazers (28-3) a 55-48 lead with 4:04 to play.
That’s when Ontario Christian started to chip away at the lead.
Tatianna Griffin (19 points, 12 rebounds) hit a 3-pointer, Smith (29 points, including 19 after halftime) made a free throw and the Nebraska-bound Neale (18 points) had the biggest shot of the night, a 3-pointer with less than 90 seconds remaining that tied the score at 55-55.
“The play kind of broke down,” Neale said. ‘My man went to help on Kaleena and she found me wide open. And I shot it and made it.”
Neither team scored in the remainder of regulation, but both lineups had chances.
In the waning seconds, Sierra Canyon coach Alicia Komaki thought her team would get the final opportunity when junior Jerzy Robinson missed a shot, but the Trailblazers got the rebound.
Officials ruled a jump ball before Komaki could call a timeout, giving the ball to the Knights with 7.6 seconds left.
“The most frustrating part was when I called a timeout with seven seconds left in regulation and they called a jump ball,” Komaki said.
Sierra Canyon still had fouls to give and fouled the Knights twice. The final play started with 2.9 seconds left and Smith’s shot was off the mark as time expired.
The Trailblazers’ offensive drought continued into overtime.
Sierra Canyon girls basketball team | Photo courtesy of Sierra Canyon
Ontario Christian scored the first 10 points of overtime and when Robinson made two free throws with 43.5 seconds left, it snapped the Knights’ 17–0 run.
They were the first points for the Trailblazers in more than seven minutes.
Sierra Canyon didn’t make a field goal in the game’s final 10 minutes.
“We had plenty of opportunities and we just didn’t score,” Komaki said.
Ontario Christian coach Aundre Cummings was very pleased with his team’s defense.
“The team was buying into the concept and understanding that defense actually wins championships,” Cummings said. “They understood it this game. They proved it this game.”
He was especially pleased with the defense showcased by Griffin, who was charged with defending Robinson.
In the Feb. 22 matchup, Ontario Christian played a lot of zone defense. Saturday, there were a variety of defenses, but down the stretch, it was Griffin defending Robinson.
“She took on a challenge that we wanted her to take on all year long,” Cummings said of Griffin. “We knew we would play them and we told her when we do, you’ll have to guard Jerzy. In the first half, she was intimidated. In the second half, she remembered those moments (when we told her).”
Robinson finished with 27 points on 7-of-15 shooting, but she missed her final five field-goal attempts.
Leia Edwards added 14 points for Sierra Canyon, before fouling out in overtime.
Krstevski had seven points, but didn’t make a field goal in the second half or extra period for the Trailblazers.
Dani Robinson was the only other player to score for Ontario Christian, making a 3-pointer in the first quarter, as Griffin, Neale and Smith combined for 66 points in the victory.