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Girls Basketball: Wildcats Snatch NCS Championship With 1-Point Victory Over Clayton Valley

Hughes destroys the Eagles with 14 points and 14 rebounds.

Dougherty Valley 46, Clayton Valley 45

The Star: Caroline Hughes capped her outstanding NCS run with another terrific double-double (14 points and 14 rebounds) and also led the way defensively recording four steals and four blocks.

The Turning Point: With 1:39 to go in the 4th quarter and Dougherty Valley clinging to a one point lead, Treyvonna Brooks scored a tough lay-up while being fouled on a nifty pass from her sister Rayven, to put the Wildcats up 44-41. The teams proceeded to trade free throws placing the score at 46-43. All of a  sudden with 14 seconds remaining, Gina Del Bene broke free of Dougherty’s full court press and penetrated deep into the lane finding Sarah Nelson for the lay-up and brought Clayton to within one. The Eagles fouled immediately on the ensuing Wildcats’ possession and sent Jackie Taylor to the line for a crucial one-and-one. Taylor missed the front-end and with 11 seconds remaining Clayton collected the rebound and hurried the ball up the court. The ball eventually fell into Karley Menez’s hands and in the middle of a scrum she attempted an awkward scoop shot that missed but found the hands of Nelson. Nelson immediately shot the ball and was  fouled on the attempt with 0.9 seconds remaining on the clock. Unfortunately for the Eagles, Nelson proceeded to misfire on both attempts and Dougherty goes on to record an absolutely heart-stopping victory.

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The Quote: “We are going to state. There is no doubt in any of our minds that we can get that far. We can match-up with any team.” —DV's Caroline Hughes.

What’s Next: Dougherty Valley looks forward to learning their seeding (possibly No. 1) in the CIF Northern California Playoffs starting next week.

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Bottom Line: The Eagles were not expected to be able to play with the highly ranked and extremely talented Wildcats and surprised everyone in the Dougherty gym except their coaches and fans with a stellar performance. They also nearly stole a breathtaking North Coast Section championship game, which came all the way down to the final tenths of a second. Both teams exchanged clutch shots and neither gave an inch on defense.

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The Wildcats jumped for joy after Clayton Valley’s final free throw attempt to tie the game missed its mark, but one could not miss the sense of relief on the Wildcats’ faces.

They escaped.

Dougherty Valley claimed the North Coast Section championship, 46-45, playing in front of their home fans, Friday night.

“(Clayton Valley) continued to hit big shots, one after the other late in the game,” Wildcats coach Doug Vanderhorst said. “We played pretty well on defense but we could not seem to stretch the lead to five or six. I kept waiting for a big run like we have had all year and it did not come … to their credit. It made for a great game.”

The Wildcats rode forward Caroline Hughes to the title and used her sweet outside touch to bust the Eagles’ zone defense. Hughes nailed two threes and a slew of midrange jump shots to finish with 14 points to go along with 14 rebounds, four steals and four blocks.

“It is just so amazing to win NCS. We only lost two games all season in Arizona and worked so hard to get here. It is just icing on the cake to win NCS,” exclaimed a beaming Hughes. “I am not going to say we were expecting a great fight from Clayton, but they really came out fighting. They are a really good team and gave us a great match. At the end I was little nervous, but we came out.”

Nervous may be the understatement of the night. Every Dougherty Valley fan, player and coach’s stomach must have flipped upside down when Sarah Nelson collected an offensive rebound off a desperation miss from teammate Karley Menez and was fouled in the act of shooting.

Nelson went to the line with only 0.9 seconds remaining in the game and the opportunity to capture the NCS title with two made free throws. However, neither attempt found their mark and Clayton narrowly missed one of the biggest upsets of the entire season.

Nelson may not have made the free throws but she played a fabulous game. She single handedly kept the Eagles within striking distance as the Wildcats caught fire in the second period and stretched their lead to 27-19.

“She may not have made the free throws but I told her not to worry about it. She will get another chance next week,” said Barnes.

Nelson record four blocked shots in the first half and it was much to her credit that the Eagles only entered the locker room down five at intermission. She was also a monster on the glass gobbling up a team-leading 12 rebounds.

The Eagles stormed back in the third quarter on the legs of Ashley Allen who recorded six points in the period and showed why she is one of the most dangerous players in the east bay. When Allen was able to get her hips square and momentum towards the basket, there was not a single Wildcat who could stop her.

Allen again packed the stat sheet with 12 points, four assists, three steals and in the biggest game of her young career, she also nailed four of five free throws.

The suffocating backcourt pressure limited the Dougherty guards to only six points combined, but the frontcourt of Rayven and Treyvonna Brooks, along with Hughes carried the offensive load. The Brooks sisters combined for 26 points and both made critical plays down the stretch.

Rayven, the back-to-back Diablo Foothill Athletic League MVP, nailed both of her free throws, on a one-and-one, with less than 30 seconds to play, giving her team the 46-45 advantage. The clutch shots from the charity stripe also turned out to be the game-winners.

 With 1:39 to go, Trayvonna also made the toughest lay-up of the night in traffic while being fouled to put the Wildcats’ up 44-41.

“We are going to state,” said Hughes. “There is no doubt in any of our minds that we can get that far. We can match-up with any team.”

Hughes performance was deserving of an NCS plaque, and after the game it appeared she was not eager to let it out of her reach.

“The last month or so and during much of the season (Hughes) has continued to improve,” Vanderhorst said. “Tonight she shot it really well. It seemed like every time it left her hand it was going to go in. She hit a lot of big shots for us tonight.”

Hughes however was equaled, shot-for-shot, by opposing power forward Molly Kommer. Kommer played with ice in her veins nailing several key baskets. She seemed to answer the call of the boisterous Clayton cheering section who appeared far more enthusiastic than the Dougherty Valley faithful.

“It was awesome having our fans here to cheer for us on (the road),” said Kommer.

Kommer sunk a three at the half-time buzzer to cut Dougherty’s lead to five at 27-22. She also sunk two free throws with 2:02 remaining in the fourth to cut the Wildcats’ lead to one (42-41).

“I think if we play them again we need to focus more on rebounding,” Kommer said of a possible rematch in the NorCal playoffs. “We let them shoot a lot of (uncontested) threes and we need to improve at closing out.”

Clayton’s coach Bernard Barnes did not seem the least bit dejected after the heart breaking loss. The coach seemed excited at the prospects of playing Dougherty again in the NorCal playoffs and possibly on a neutral floor.

“Look, I do not care where we play (Dougherty). We could play them outside, inside, at a park, or even at St. Mary’s,” said Barnes. “I just wanted my players to play and not worry about the location and they played great.”

Dougherty Valley 46, Clayton Valley 45

 

1

2

3

4

F

11

11

13

10

45

Dougherty Valley

7

20

11

8

46

Individuals — (fg ftm-fta tp)

Clayton Valley

Kommer 6  4-4  17, Menez 1  0-2  3, Gina Del Bene 1  2-2  5, Allen 4  4-5  12, Nelson 4  0-2  8. Totals 16  10-15  45.

Dougherty Valley

Flores 1  0-0  3, Taylor 1  0-0  3, T. Brooks 4  2-5  10, Hughes 5  2-2  14, Brooks 4  6-8  16. Totals 15  10-15  46.

3-point goals: Menez, Kommer, Del Bene, Flores, Taylor, R. Brooks 2, Hughes 2.

Fouled out: None.

Records: Clayton Valley 26-2; Dougherty Valley 26-3.

North Coast Section Division II Finals, girls basketball, 3/4/11

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