By Uy Pham
Fountain Valley High School girls’ basketball team (11-8) battled against the Marina Vikings (12-7) in a back-and-forth match that resulted in a 59-58 victory for the Barons.
The Marina Vikings had advanced to the CIF State Division V final last season. They entered the home of the Fountain Valley Barons, determined to begin their Sunset Conference conquest with a victory.
Yet, the Barons were the ones who proved victorious to commence their round of cross-conference games. A layup by Waite with five seconds remaining encapsulated the victory for the Barons, who were coming off a three-game losing streak from a tournament.
“This is a phenomenal win for us,” head coach Marianne Karp said. “We’ve had a couple of weeks off, and we’ve had kids injured.”
Freshman Kaylie Sasaki and junior Karley Waite, who scored the game-winning layup, led the scoring with 12 points each. Waite managed the game through her rebounding on both sides of the court. Additionally, sophomore Sophie Hsieh and junior Dasani Pham, who scored three three-pointers, recorded 11 points each, which resulted in four double-digit scorers for the Barons.
To start the game, Waite converted an and-one play for an early 3-0 lead, but the Vikings quickly responded by converting two free throws. Pham side-stepped the Marina defender and sank a three-pointer for a 6-3 lead with 6:10 remaining in the quarter.
Although Marina converted another free-throw, Waite’s put-back layup and Hsieh’s three-pointer propelled the Barons further into the lead. For the rest of the quarter, the Vikings attempted to slowly regain ground with a layup followed by an and-one play, but a pull-up jumper from junior Candice Tran ended the quarter with the Barons leading 13-11.
The Barons opened the second quarter with a pull-up jumper by senior Lujane Alani, followed by a Viking three-pointer.
However, Sasaki began her scoring run. She pivoted around a defender and faked a pass to score a two. Soon after, she stole the ball and drove down for a layup, along with an assist from Tran to score a three-pointer. Despite the Vikings’ two layups, Sasaki’s efforts had extended the Barons’ lead to 24-18 with 5:08 remaining.
The rest of the second quarter was characterized by the Vikings’ full-court, tight defense. The Barons were forced to navigate up the court to find connecting passes and shots. Hsieh and senior Lizzie Fast each recorded a steal, but Marina darted around Barons’ defenders and forced offensive turnovers to tie the game.
Fast converted a free throw, but Marina spun past another defender for a layup and their first lead of the game 25-26. Following alternating rebounds and layups between the Vikings and Barons, Sasaki responded with a layup and deep two-pointer to secure the halftime lead of 29-28.
While Marina continued their stringent defensive strategy into the third quarter, Pham scored two three-pointers to open up the scoring. Yet, the Vikings responded to each three-pointer with a three-pointer of their own. A third three-pointer helped the Vikings regain a 38-38 lead.
The Barons and Vikings traded a few free-throw conversions, but Marina scored seven points to end the quarter. With the Barons’ only responding through a Sasaki free-throw and a Hsieh pull-up jumper, the Vikings entered the fourth with a 41-50 lead.
Senior Melody Nishi quickly started the quarter with a three-pointer, and the Vikings resumed their tight full-court defense in an attempt to deteriorate the Barons’ advances up the court. Pham scored a floater, along with Hsieh and the Vikings each exchanging a three-pointer.
Resuming her dominating rebounds, Waite scored a put-back shot and Hsieh scored another layup. Despite a Marina layup, with 3:20 remaining, Nishi responded with another three-pointer to tie the game 56-56.
Until 50 seconds were remaining, both sides held the other to a scoreless stalemate. Two Vikings players fouled out, and each player’s tight defense forced the other side to turnover the ball several times.
With 30 seconds remaining, Sasaki missed a three-pointer but Waite rebounded and drew a foul. She scored a free throw for a 57-56 lead. Marina quickly responded by driving and converting a layup with 7 seconds remaining.
“That last play we practice all the time. It’s named after Pat Summitt,” Karp said. “The players asked what do we run, and I said ‘Summit.”
From the inbound, Hsieh heaved a soaring pass to Waite, who had worked her way through her teammates’ screens. Waite scored the layup, winning the game 59-58 with 5 seconds remaining.
“There was a play the other night, they had the same situation. It was a horrible pass, and I recorded it and sent it to our group. I said, ‘A better pass gets this win.’” Karp said. “It’s so crazy how I just sent that yesterday.”
Marina’s final attempt to score the ball ended with the Vikings losing the ball, and the final buzzer rang.
The Barons will face off against the Newport Harbor High School Sailors in another Sunset Conference crossover match on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.
“The [players] are ready to play,” Karp said. “They’re learning so much. We’ve had some battles. They’ve been beat up, kicked around, and they’re resilient.”
