"Watching the other teams play, I thought, 'How are we going to do this?'" junior Kelli Sum said.
But having defeated two of the eight schools present at the tournament, the girls qualified to progress to the final game against Evergreen Valley High School. From the bleachers, watching both teams at the start of the game as they sprinted around the courts, were athletes from Saratoga, San Jose, South San Francisco, Liberty Baptist, Willow Glen, and Del Mar high schools.
Twenty seconds into the game, Chen attempted a basket, but the ball was intercepted by junior Jennifer Le from Evergreen who ran it down to the other side of the court. Chiu brought it back and scored the first basket of the night, in addition to making one of two free throws. After a similar attempt, Young was allocated two free throws as well. The ball was intercepted by Evergreen junior Kelsey Taku, who threw the ball to teammate junior Alyssa Prudencio, before Chen blocked her shot. Prudencio scored, tying the score at 3-3. Her teammates made consecutive attempts until Evergreen junior Samantha Grant scored again, putting Evergreen at a lead for the first time.
Chiu once again gained possession of the ball and scored. With an additional free throw, Chiu brought MVHS up to a 6-6 tie until Evergreen made a basket and took the lead at 6-7. After being fouled by Sum, Taku was awarded two free throws, one of which she made successfully. Young intercepted the ball and scored, once again leveling the score at 8-8. When Evergreen sophomore Raquel Orosa took possession of the ball and was fouled by Sum, she was awarded two free throws and scored both. Shortly after, Sum's attempt was intercepted by Grant, but Chiu took the ball to score another basket. MVHS junior Victoria Lee entered the game and scored almost immediately, bringing the Matadors to a 14-12 lead, although Lee missed a subsequent free throw.
Sum and Taku both made one of two free throws for their respective teams, and a basket from Chiu increased the Matador lead to 17-13.
"We were winning!" Sum said. "We were playing our best. It was good."
Just after, Taku scored the first three-point field goal of the game. When the ball was returned to the other side, Le intercepted it and brought it back over, scoring a basket with no one guarding her or blocking her shot. Bringing the score to 17-18, Le marked the first of a series of alternating Matador-Cougar field goals, making for a very close score that would last for the rest of the game. Sum and Prudencio both scored within seconds of each other just before a time out was called.
Junior Amy Lin scored a basket for the Matadors, bringing the score to 23-20, and a free throw by Young brought it up an additional point. Then, Orosa took possession of the ball and leveled the score once again. The first half of the game ended with an MVHS lead at 24-22.
When the players returned, Young and Grant scored both of two awarded free throws within the first few minutes. Evergreen's Le scored a three-point field goal between a double-scoring by Booke and another basket by Chiu, tying the score at 32-32 before two free throws raised the score in favor of the Matadors. As the game neared the end, it intensified. Chiu and Booke each scored again before Prudencio's three-pointer took the score to 38-37.
Sum scored two points, but Taku took possession of the ball and also scored, marking the first of several consecutive Evergreen baskets. Junior Lanyssa Fiaui's basket was recalled due to charging, but Le scored with 50 seconds left in the game. Grant scored a free throw, giving Evergreen a two-point lead of 46-48.
After Le scored another basket, Young intercepted the ball and scored for the Matadors with 15 seconds remaining. Young went on to make one of two free throws, but the Matadors were still lagging at 48-51. With three seconds remaining in the game, Chen scored a two-point field goal, narrowing the gap to 50-51, but the game ended before the Matadors had further opportunities to redeem themselves.
Still, the players maintained an optimistic outlook.
Young, who won the Most Hustle award of the tournament, was surprised she had so much playing time.
"Last year, we counted on the seniors," she said. "I hadn't expected the coach to play me so much. But I am proud of everyone's hard work. I think we could have won."
