Sports

Tam Girls Top San Marin in OT Playoff Thriller

Hawks snap out an offensive haze, stave off Mustangs' comeback and survive overtime to advance to MCAL semifinals against Branson.

With a pair of already in the books, Tuesday night’s Marin County Athletic League (MCAL) girls basketball playoff showdown between Tam High and San Marin had the makings of a thriller.

The fourth-seened Hawks (18-9) and the fifth-seeded Mustangs didn’t disappoint, as Tam snapped out of a first-half haze at home and roared back with a 12-0 run in the fourth quarter, holding off a valiant San Marin comeback and surviving overtime for a 53-50 win.

The Hawks move on to the MCAL semifinals and will play top-seeded Branson at Redwood High Thursday at 5:30 p.m., while the Mustangs will wait and hope to be included in the North Coast Section Division III playoffs when brackets are unveiled on Sunday.

Find out what's happening in Mill Valleywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Whether it was the dreary weather or San Marin’s zone defense, Tam was stuck in a funk in the first half. Tam coach Mike Evans urged his players at halftime to get more aggressive offensively, move the ball and get better shots. They did just that.

“In the previous two times we played them, we moved the ball well and got a lot of good shots,” said Evans, who added an exclamation point behind his “good shots” rule on the team’s white board at half time. “But we took that for granted tonight and were stagnant in the first half, tossing up the first shot we saw. The girls picked it up in the second half, found openings in the defense and made plays.”

Find out what's happening in Mill Valleywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Hawks also switched to a trapping defense that managed to keep the ball out of powerhouse post player Leeann Alferness’ hands down the stretch. Alferness, who came into the game averaging an MCAL-leading 16 points and 11 rebounds a game, finished with 21 points.

“They started trapping and running people at the ball,” said San Marin coach Dan Lucia, a 2004 inductee into the Marin High School Athletic Hall of Fame as a baseball star at Tam in the mid-1970s. “We didn’t attack that trap enough in the second half.”

The Hawks got off to an abysmal start, missing their first eight shots and committing three early turnovers. The lack of ball movement made San Marin’s size advantage even more acute, as Alferness and forward Gabrielle Pflugradt seemed to own the boards in the first half.

San Marin guard Sarah Lucia had considerable success early on, driving and dishing to Alferness and Pflugradt on multiple occasions. San Marin held an 18-12 lead at half, and Lucia and Alferness pushed the Mustangs to a 30-21 lead early in the third quarter, their largest of the game.

But then Tam found its groove.

Junior center Britt Lindberg was fouled along the baseline and hit a pair of free throws to cut it to seven, and then junior guard Hallie Brauner jumped a passing lane for a steal and a coast-to-coast layup. Another Mustang turnover led to a beautiful give-and-go break between freshmen Olivia Heitz and Amanda Barriscale, with Barriscale finishing it off with a lay-in that cut the margin to three.

Tam then rattled off a series of buckets, all coming from along the baseline gap in San Marin’s zone defense. Lindberg’s baseline jumper cut it to 30-29, and then junior forward Jenna May hit three baseline buckets, hitting two mid-range jumpers and a baseline drive, capping a 12-0 drive to take a 33-30 lead.

“We just got really focused four minutes into the fourth quarter,” said Brauner, who finished with 17 points and five steals. “I don’t know we were so out of it, but we got some key turnovers and turned it around.”

San Marin battled back, however, with Lucia getting a key steal and forward Nicole Roberts nabbing a key putback on a missed free throw to tie it up at 38. The teams each hit a free throw in the waning seconds of regulation, with Pflugradt tying it up at 39 after Alferness drew a double team and dished it to her down low.

Brauner missed a tough runner at the buzzer sounded.

Tam got on the board first in OT, with Brauner hitting a free throw and then a driving layup for a 42-39 lead. She then made a number of slashing moves to the basket on successive possessions and hit seven of eight free throws down the stretch to keep San Marin at bay.

The Mustangs refused to go away, however, with Alferness hitting a driving layup and Bridget Pacchetti scoring a pair of buckets, including the final shot of the night to make it 53-50.

“They just got a lot more aggressive against our zone in the second half,” San Marin coach Dan Lucia said. “They started to attack and they found some gaps.”

While Tam lives to fight another day, San Marin will wait on the NCS brackets. Regardless, the Mustangs hold about as much promise for next season as any team in the MCAL. Alferness returns for her senior season as one of the best players in the league, and the Mustangs won’t lose a single player to graduation.

“I told them in November that we were going to lose a lot of games this year because we are so young,” Lucia said. “But we played hard all year and I’m really proud of them.”


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here