It came as no surprise to Aragon’s No. 2-seeded girls basketball team (23-6) that No. 1 Valley Christian (13-14) gave them a run for their money in the CCS Division II championship game, which the Warriors ended up taking 69-62. On Saturday, the challenge came in the form Valley Christian’s lights-out shooting.
The surprising part was just how “lights out” the game quickly became.
In the middle of halftime, at which point the Dons trailed 35-21, the lights went out at Independence High School, host to the Division II and III boys and girls championship games. After over 30 minutes in the dark, some of which the Dons spent dancing, CCS Assistant Commissioner Jennifer Watson made the call to move the rest of the contests to Piedmont Hills.
“We called PG&E, and [the power] was out in a 10-block radius around Independence, so we didn’t want to wait it out and make the teams later and later and later, so we decided to move the game,” said Watson, who admitted there was no protocol for such a situation. “Traci Williams, who’s the principal at Piedmont Hills, graciously offered to have us at Piedmont Hills. It’s been a little frantic, I’m not gonna lie. But you know what, we figured it out.”
The game picked back up after players, coaches and fans shuttled three miles to Piedmont Hills, and just like the San Francisco 49ers’ turnaround in Super Bowl XLVII after the power went out in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome for 34 minutes, the Dons felt rejuvenated.
“It loosened us up,” said junior guard Jalene Parangan. “We were all stressed, we were all nervous playing Valley Christian. I felt like, during the blackout, we were just dancing, having the time of our lives.”
The blackout certainly worked in Aragon’s favor — after a horrendous second quarter in which they only made two shots from the field, the Dons stormed back, outscoring the Warriors in both of the remaining quarters. Aragon closed up Valley Christian’s 18-point lead midway through the third quarter to get within six points in the final minute.
“It’s very hard to see that we were so close but we just weren’t there,” Parangan said of her team’s late push. “It’s been so long song since Aragon girls varsity have gone this far to CCS.”
Parangan and junior guard Lydia Manu both dropped 16 points for the Dons, with the latter dishing out seven assists and adding a game-highs three blocks to her final tally. But whenever the Dons got something started, Valley Christian seemed to shut their momentum down with the long ball.
“We couldn’t find their shooters and close them out and shut them down,” Manu said. “So whenever we got some runs, they would come back and drain us with a couple threes.”
Manu traded 3-pointers with the Warriors on multiple occasions throughout the game, including to start off the contest. But while the Dons’ deep shooting never really heated up, Valley Christian’s went off in the second half, as Warriors sophomore guard Fallon Dexheimer, who made only one field goal in the first half, knocked down four second-half threes, adding to her 16-point explosion in the final two quarters. She also grabbed a team-high eight boards and recorded a pair of assists. Dexheimer and senior guard Katie Mason were responsible for eight of the Warriors’ 10 3-pointers throughout the game.
“You make 10 3-pointers,” said Aragon head coach Sam Manu, “you deserve to win.”
The Dons also had trouble containing junior forward Nyah Willis, who scored 17 points.
“Their No. 22 (Willis), she liked to drive, but they’re shooters, so it’s like you couldn’t really guard both,” Parangan said. “So [guarding Willis] was kind of hard.”
Since the NorCal Tournament only takes one team from Division II, the Dons’ season is over.
