Sports
Girls Hoop Playoffs: West Hills Wins at the Buzzer
Emily Cole's game-winning layup sends the Wolf Pack to the CIF semifinals against Mt. Carmel.
The home crowd at West Hills High School poured out of the bleachers only seconds after Emily Cole’s game-winning layup at the buzzer Friday night gave the Wolf Pack a 37-36 quarterfinal victory over Serra in the San Diego CIF Division II girls basketball playoffs.
“It was crazy,” exclaimed Cole, who at first said she wasn’t sure who fed her with the game-deciding assist.
Then after regaining her breath, Cole noted it was sophomore teammate Haley Forsberg who rebounded a missed Serra shot with eight seconds left and fired the ball down the court.
Find out what's happening in Santeewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The wide-open Cole thought about pulling up to shoot a 15-foot jumper.
“I looked up and saw there were three seconds left and said to myself ‘gotta go, gotta go,’” Cole said. “We were down by one and I thought if I go to the basket I may get fouled.”
Find out what's happening in Santeewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The last basket of the night marked the only time West Hills (19-9) led.
“This was the worst shooting night of the year for us,” West Hills coach Ryan Kinser said. “We shot terrible inside and outside. Had too many turnovers (29).”
Neither team shot well in the game, which saw the Wolf Pack pull out the victory with a 6-3 scoring edge in the final quarter.
Serra (16-14) struggled to a 22-16 halftime lead as West Hills shot a paltry 20 percent (5 for 25) from the floor and made just 5 of 14 from the free throw line.
“Defensively in the second half we executed what we wanted to do,” Kinser said. “The first half we did not. And we gave up too many offensive rebounds in the first half, which was pretty much the only way Serra scored in the first half.”
West Hills travels to North County on Wednesday to face top-seeded Mt. Carmel in a Division II semifinal. Tipoff is 7 p.m.
Serra 12 10 11 3 — 36
West Hills 9 7 15 6 — 37
Serra scoring: Azziz 15, Carter 9, Bell 6, Harris 6.
West Hills scoring: Haley Forsberg 11, Emily Cole 10, Taylor Ingraham 7, Kylie Cristini 6, Arielle Bowers 3.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The Santana boys soccer team was knocked out of the San Diego Section Division III playoffs Friday, losing to top-seeded St. Augustine 5-0. The Sultans finished 10-13-2.
Special to Santee Patch.com from East County Sports.com
