GIRLS BASKETBALL: Gunn Holds Off Gilroy to Advance to CCS Finals

Gunn 43, Gilroy 40

The Star: The bank was open for the Gilroy High girls basketball team Wednesday night. Senior captain Ashley Lambert banked home two deep jumpers, scoring a team-high 11 points in a hard fought playoff showdown with Gunn High-Palo Alto. The scrappy guard left everything she had on the floor, but a late triple and some clutch free throw shooting helped spoil the Gilroy title run as they fell 43-40 to No. 3 seed Gunn  in the Central Coast Section Division I Girls Basketball semifinals held at Christopher High.

Junior Michelle Sosa had eight points and senior Chelsea Hill added seven in the tightly-contested playoff semifinal.

The Turning Point: Gilroy led 40-36 with just under two minutes left to play. After the heady rebound follow score by Dani Hemeon put the Mustangs up by four, the ball was quickly pushed up the floor to an open shooter. Gunn sophomore Nora Shevick buried an open 3-pointer to quickly slice the lead back down to only one point. Superb defensively all evening long, Gunn bottled up the driving lanes and forced the Mustangs to launch deep shots throughout the ball game, including on the final 3-point attempt of the night.

The Quote: “They wouldn’t allow us to get out and run,"Gilroy head coach Tim Jones said about the Gunn defense in the 43-40 victory. “We don’t play well in the half court. We settled taking a lot of jump shots. That’s just not us. We’re not a perimeter team.”

 Gilroy, the 2010-11 Tri County Athletic League champs, finished the year with a 22-2 record overall.

 “I really enjoyed being around this team,” Jones said. “They’re a good group of kids. We gave it our best shot.”

 What's Next? Gilroy loses several key seniors, headlined by captains Ashley Lambert, Chelsea Hill and starting guard Dani Hemeon.

Gunn will take on No. 1 seed Palo Alto High on Saturday night at 6 pm. The championship game will be held at Santa Clara University. Paly defeated Gunn in both meetings this season.

Bottom Line: With imposing center Catherine Perez smack dab in the middle of the Gunn zone, the perimeter defenders were free to roam and harass throughout the semifinal showdown. With the pace of the game slowed down to a near standstill, the tempo was played to the Titans liking. That allowed Gunn to grind out another victory, keeping the fast break Gilroy offense benched for the majority of the night.

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Gilroy Scoring

Alacaron-2

Hill-7

Sosa-8

Mah-4

Costa-4

Hemeon-4

Lambert-11