DANA POINT – In the most crucial moments of the game, the La Habra girls basketball team turned to what it knows best.
Senior guard Alexis Vigil hit the ground for a loose ball that resulted in a pair of free throws. She made the first, missed the second, but center Hannah McArthur grabbed the rebound and scored on the put back for a three-point lead.
In the end, the hustle helped visiting La Habra secure a 43-39 overtime victory over Dana Hills in a CIF-SS Division 2A first-round game Thursday.
The Highlanders (18-9) will host Lompoc in the second round Saturday night.
“We’re all about the hustle and diving for loose balls,” La Habra coach Dana Khandelwal said. “We don’t let anything go uncontested. We try to outhustle our opponents, and that’s what we go for every game.”
Dana Hills (20-7) matched La Habra’s effort in the second half. The Dolphins trailed, 25-19, in the third, but they eventually took the lead, 29-28, early in the fourth on a 3-point field goal from Camille Deol.
The Dolphins outscored the Highlanders in each quarter except for the first and in overtime.
The Highlanders held a three-point lead on two occasions late in the fourth quarter, and each time the Dolphins managed to tie. The final time came with less than four seconds when Maicie Saia hit a 3-point field goal to tie the score, 37-37. The game ended up going to overtime.
The teams traded baskets early in the overtime period. With the score tied at 39-39, Vigil gave the Highlanders the lead for good with her free throw and McArthur helped seal the victory with her basket.
“All of us wanted this so badly,” La Habra senior guard Lani Maehara said. “Yesterday in practice, all we were doing was hustle, hustle and big plays came from Jess (Jessica Kamei), Patty (Patricia Gonzalez) and Alex (Alexis Vigil) at the end when they were diving for stuff.”
Maehara led the Highlanders with 19 points and seven steals. Emma Zener added 12 points. McArthur had 18 rebounds. Gonzalez also had seven steals.
Alex Williams and Olivia Chambers had nine points apiece for the Dolphins.
“We fought all season because we’ve had so much happen to this team,” Dana Hills coach Anne Honey said. “I’m so proud of them. They gave everything they had. Of course we wanted things to go our way, but sometimes you come up short and that’s what happened.”
Contact the writer: dcalhoun@scng.com
