Perfecting the Improbable

Neither injuries, an 0-5 start to their season, or large postseason deficits have derailed the Modesto Christian girls’ quest for their first state title.

  By JIM McCUE | Contributor

  Modesto Christian girls head coach Robb Spencer believed his team would be playing for the program’s first state title since the first day of practice back in the fall. 

  What he would not have believed was the amount of adversity the Crusaders would face to reach the historic precipice.

  “I was pretty straight forward from the start,” Spencer said about his state championship aspirations for this year’s team. “We definitely talked about making State, but we knew that we would still have to take things one phase at a time.”

  For the Crusaders, the first phase may have been the most difficult. 

  Spencer put together an early schedule to immediately test his players against the state’s best. The idea was to be challenged right out of the gate with an eye toward drawing on the experience of playing California powers such as Bishop’s-La Jolla, Alemany-Mission Hills, Canyon Springs-Moreno Valley, Archbishop Mitty-San Jose, and St. Mary’s-Stockton.

  The gauntlet of perennial state contenders would have been a challenge for a healthy Modesto Christian roster. But, Spencer’s charges were forced to dive into the deep end of the talent pool without a complete complement of weapons. The result was an 0-5 start, but fortunately not any lasting damage to the confidence of the Crusaders.

  “It was tough, but I remember coach saying (in an article) that he had never been happier to be 0-5,” senior captain Lexi Tubbs said. “It was great to see what we were up against, and we were in every one of those games.”

  The battle-tested Crusaders faced more injuries and sat at 3-7 after a par of losses to open up play in the West Coast Jamboree in late December. Since a 53-50 loss to Monterey Trail-Elk Grove on Dec. 28, though, Modesto Christian has won 23 of its last 24 games, including an improbable victory in the Northern California Regional Division III Championship last weekend at American Canyon High School.

  Midway through the third quarter, the Crusaders found themselves trailing No. 1 seed Enterprise-Redding 50-33 before finishing the game on a 25-6 run to pull off the 58-56 comeback victory that extended their season one more game.

  Despite the long odds of a comeback, Spencer and the Crusaders never lost faith and never believed that the game and the season were soon ending. When Spencer called a timeout facing a 17-point deficit, his goal was to regroup and refocus his players and challenge them to finish strong.

  “We took a timeout and I asked the girls, ‘Are we going to play or not?’” Spencer said. “After that, everyone stepped up. It did not matter who went into the game, good things happened.”

  Tubbs, in particular, stepped up to take control down the stretch. The senior, who averages 16.8 points per game, had just one basket and three points in the first three periods before finishing with 13 points, including a final free throw to cap the comeback.

  “She made a statement,” Spencer said of his leader and offensive workhorse. “She gathered herself and finished the game out. That’s what great players do.”

  Fellow senior Jasmine Hampton contributed 12 points in the NorCal final, but sophomore wing Stephanie Moore scored a postseason-high 18 points to keep the Crusaders in the game. She scored the go-ahead basket in the final minute to give Modesto Christian its first lead since early in the first quarter. 

  Moore, whose sister Valerie earned a scholarship to Saint Mary’s College after graduating in 2012, has responded to uphold a family and school tradition with a solid season.

  “She can score, she can rebound, and she can do whatever is needed,” Spencer said. “She is going to be fun to watch the next couple of years.”

  Spencer will enjoy seeing Moore, Tubbs, Hampton, freshmen twins Nicole and Meagan Warwick, and the rest of his mostly-healthy roster fight to earn the first CIF State Championship for the girls’ team (the Modesto Christian boys have won 2 state titles in 4 appearances).

  Said Tubbs: “Modesto Christian is really rich in basketball tradition and we have high expectations every year, but it is really cool that we are in a position to raise the bar with a state title.”

  Tubbs and her teammates are confident they can make history to add to the Crusaders’ tradition, but the trials and tribulations of this season has brought them closer together and taught the talented group about humility.

  “We are confident, but also very humble,” she said. “We have grown close throughout the year and, after (the NorCal final comeback) win, we can’t say anything is not possible.”

  Not even an improbable trip to a state championship.