Three days after winning the program’s first Central Coast Section championship in 40 years, the Los Gatos High girls basketball team delivered an encore performance worthy of a standing ovation.
Which, incidentally, is what they received being they were on their home court Tuesday. As impressive as Los Gatos was in dominating Homestead High in last Saturday’s CCS Division I championship game, the Wildcats one-upped themselves against a tough Lick-Wilmerding team in the opening round of the CIF NorCal Division II tournament.
Nicole Steiner’s steal and lay-in with 2.1 seconds remaining allowed Los Gatos to escape with a 52-51 win in what amounted to be a nail-biting, white-knuckle contest. The No. 4 seed Wildcats (25-3) play host to No. 5 seed San Joaquin Memorial (24-6) in a second-round game Thursday at 6pm.
Los Gatos’ magical season continues for at least one more game, as unbelievable as it may seem. To say the Wildcats were on the ropes would be an understatement. They trailed by 10 points with seven minutes left in the game before unleashing a furious comeback capped by a miraculous finish.
Steiner’s steal and lay-in came right after the Wildcats—who were trailing 51-50—committed a turnover with 8.6 seconds left, seemingly sealing their fate. All Lick-Wilmerding had to do was inbound the ball a couple of times and it would automatically get into a 1-and-1 situation since Los Gatos was at five fouls for the second half.
The Tigers got the first inbound in and Los Gatos quickly fouled to force another inbound. Lick-Wilmerding was about to proceed from the endline when one of the referees made a beeline to his fellow colleague and noted the ball should be inbounded on the left corner sideline, not the endline.
That decision turned out to be crucial because Los Gatos smothered every Lick-Wilmerding player trying to get open. With no timeouts, the inbounder had to make a pass or risk a five-second violation. She threw it to the lane where a handful of players were, including Steiner, who in one motion tipped the ball to herself before laying a shot in.
The Los Gatos crowd—already juiced up and buzzing after seeing their team rise from near defeat—erupted. After a Los Gatos timeout, the Tigers got the ball to their go-to player, and she got a good look from about five beyond the 3-point line that hit the side of the rim at the buzzer.
Not only did the Wildcats beat a tough opponent, they did it without their de facto captain on defense, Casey Brennan, who was carted off with an injury just 2 ½ minutes into the game.
“I think when Casey went out, we were a little scared because she’s a big person to have on defense and we were a little shocked at first,” said Steiner, who had a monster game with 25 points and 22 rebounds. “We had a lot of unforced errors, but we were able to give a really great effort and had the energy to come back to win it.”
Such was the frenzied nature of the game that Steiner and coach Sara Quilici Giles didn’t quite know what to make of the stirring comeback victory and the game’s final, frantic moments.
“I don’t know, I was just looking at the ball and keeping a hand on the girl in front of me,” Steiner said. “Then I went for the ball and went up with it.”
“I don’t even remember it exactly, to be honest,” Quilici Giles said. “Did they give it to her? Did someone tip it to her? I’ve seen Nicole do that quite a few times, but never for a game-winner, though. That was truly something special. She never quits and is such a gamer and always in the right place at the right time. Just a thrill to coach.”
How far have the Wildcats come? The Wildcats managed to win despite committing 29 turnovers, a number that was similar to their first league game with Palo Alto, an overtime loss. This time, Los Gatos dug deep and refused to lose, even when at times they were literally giving the ball away against the Tigers’ full-court pressure.
“I really felt like they left it all out there in the fourth quarter,” Quilici Giles said. “I mean, they did not give up. I cannot wait to watch the film. I’m so happy with their effort. Their effort was unbelievable.”
Belle Bramer had 13 points and 13 rebounds and Ashley Childers scored all five of her points during the 10-0 fourth quarter surge after the Wildcats fell behind 47-37 a couple of minutes into the final quarter. Grasty (six points) and Childers both had off shooting nights, but when it counted the most, they came through in a huge way.
After Steiner’s bucket, Quilici Giles called timeout to settle her players, with an assist from Grasty—the only senior starter on the squad.
“The team was so happy and celebrating and my senior captain Jeanette runs over and was like, ‘It’s not over,’” Quilici Giles said. “She’s yelling at everybody that it’s not over and that was the leadership we needed at that moment, so that was great.”
Brennan was definitely missed, but even in her absence, her presence was felt.
“In all of our team breaks they were saying Casey instead of ’Cats,” Quilici Giles said. “And I think that kind of kept our mental focus strong. We just said to each other that one person is not going to replace Casey, but you all are. It’s going to be the one extra rebound you get or the one time you help on defense or drop on defense and do it together.”
There were two ties and six lead changes in the first quarter alone, which saw the Wildcats take a 17-15 lead. However, the Tigers outscored Los Gatos 30-18 over the next two quarters to take what looked to be a commanding 10-point lead into the fourth quarter.
Lick-Wilmerding was the quicker team with the superior guard play, and it routinely got to the basket off dribble penetration. But Los Gatos got points in transition and did just enough against the press in the fourth to launch a memorable comeback.
“The other team got comfortable when they went up 10, and for us we don’t ever get comfortable after being down,” Quilici Giles said. “I don’t really have the words. We were down 10 points and we hadn’t been down 10 in a month. We turned the ball over way too many times, and luckily they didn’t capitalize on a lot of our turnovers, so that was nice.”
Lick-Wilmerding was content to let Steiner get the ball in the post, and the freshman center made them pay by repeatedly muscling up inside for layups and shots from in-close.
Steiner summed up the team’s game and season the best: “It’s insane. It keeps getting better and better and I’m so excited for all we’ve accomplished.”
Sports editor Emanuel Lee can be reached at el**@we*****.com
