By Uy Pham
Fountain Valley girls’ basketball hasn’t advanced past the first round of the CIF playoffs since 2019.
Six years later, the Barons secured their first second-round appearance in five CIF playoff appearances on Thursday, holding onto a 48-46 lead in the final minute of their Division 2A opener against Bishop Alemany.
Senior Victoria Om, who scored a game-high for the Barons with 22 points, converted two free throws to push Fountain Valley ahead by four points in the final minute. On the defensive end, senior Karley Waite secured two blocks but a defensive foul was called against the Barons with four-tenths of a second remaining.
Although the Warriors converted the first two free throws, a miss on the third attempt and a lane violation finished the game with the ball in the Barons’ possession.
“I don’t think the call at the end was a good one, but it happens and there’s nothing you can do about it,” co-head coach Izabella Om said. “I’m just very relieved the girls did what they’re supposed to do [on the play]: boxing out, getting the ball and taking care of it until the end.”
The Warriors and Barons exchanged a combined seven three-pointers in the first quarter. Om opened the game’s scoring with a corner three-pointer, and the Warriors converted a corner three in response.
Waite dominated the glass with offensive and defensive rebounds, but the Barons’ turnover led to Bishop Alemany’s fastbreak to seize a two-point lead. Om, spinning around the defender, dished a pass to junior Sophie Hsieh for a three-pointer — Hsieh went on to be the Barons’ second-highest scorer with 14 points.
Driving from the perimeter, Om floated the ball for a successful two-pointer, and the Warriors tied the game at 8-8 with another corner three-pointer at 3:41 remaining in the quarter. While the Barons shifted to a two-post lineup, the Warriors launched a flurry of three-point attempts, struggling to convert.
“We knew that they were going to shoot it outside, but we also knew they love to drive the ball in,” Izabella Om said. “We tried to find a balance to guard both, and we did struggle a bit getting a hand in their face. I think in the second quarter, we started doing a better job so that the other team didn’t have wide-open shots.”
An offensive rebound by Waite allowed her to turn and find Om for another floater. Finding space on top of the key for a three-pointer and converting their third three-pointer, the Warriors pushed into the lead with two minutes remaining.
However, the Barons ended the quarter with a three-point fueled offensive of their own, with three-pointers from Hsieh and sophomore Kaylie Sasaki. Hsieh inbounded and received a pass-back from Waite for a corner three-pointer, and the Barons led 16-13 to end the quarter.
A pair of steals from Om and Waite led to both securing two-pointers of their own to start the second quarter. Responding to Fountain Valley’s 4-0 run, the Warriors drove to the basket and scored, along with heaving a three-pointer shot after a rebounding scramble to close the deficit to two points.
Beginning at the four-minute mark, both teams entered a scoring drought. The Warriors struggled to continue their three-point completions, and the Barons failed to convert offensively.
“They’re a bigger [team], especially compared to our guards,” Izabella Om said. “[Bishop Alemany] did a really good job pressing our guards. That really tired out our point guard [Victoria Om], and it was hard to get shots for our other guards as well.”
Forcing a shot clock violation shifted the momentum back to the Barons with their offensive buildup found Hsieh for a three-pointer. Shooting from deep beyond the perimeter, Hsieh beat the shot clock with one minute remaining to score her third three-pointer of the game.
The Warriors started the third quarter on a 5-0 run to minimize the Barons’ halftime lead of 23-18 to a tied game at 23-23. Waite recorded several blocks defensively, yet a Warriors’ fastbreak and deep three-pointer took advantage of Fountain Valley’s turnovers. Victoria Om also maintained the Barons’ sturdy defense, poking the ball and diving several times out-of-bounds to disrupt the Warriors’ buildup.
Receiving an assist from Hsieh, Waite drove to the basket and successfully completed an and-one play. In the next play, Waite rebounded and secured another layup for a 5-0 run of her own.
“We knew that they had a taller girl, but in most games, we are going to have an offensive advantage in Waite,” Izabella Om said. “Something we’ve really been working on for her is to make her layups. In that third quarter, she started to and that made a huge difference. We know she can get the rebounds and crazy passes, but now she has to finish. And she did.”
Victoria Om and Bishop Alemany exchanged three-pointers and free-throws, but another Victoria Om three-pointer with 40 seconds remaining extended Fountain Valley’s lead to seven. Senior Dasani Pham converted a pair of free throws, and the Barons entered the fourth quarter with a 37-28 lead.
“Making sure we got stops and taking care of the ball [helped us in the third quarter]. We started to rush our shots a bit, and we had to realize that we’re up,” Izabella Om said. “We don’t need to rush shots, and we should take the time to get smart shots. We made that change, making a huge difference.”
A 9-2 scoring run carried the Warriors through the start of the quarter, including several successful drives to the basket for layups and a three-pointer. With 4:50 remaining Om secured two tough layups to maintain a four-point lead.
Tough defensive performances from both sides forced both offenses to maneuver through tough shots for the next two minutes. Hsieh laid another three-pointer on the tray, her fourth and final three-pointer of the game.
“We’re playing decent defense in the half-court, and our guards are doing a good job of rotating. We’re just not boxing out,” Izabella Om said. “We weren’t taking very smart shots on offense, and we couldn’t get offensive rebounds for second-chance shots. We’re just sprinting back on defense right after.”
Five consecutive points from Bishop Alemany’s perimeter three-point conversion and under-the-basket layup stressed the margin to two points, with Fountain Valley still leading 44-42 in the final two minutes.
From the perimeter, Hsieh drove and waltzed around the Warriors’ defense to secure a one-handed layup. The Warriors drew two fouls and converted two free throws in total to keep the margin at two points.
Fountain Valley missed a shot; however, a turnover from the Warriors forced them to send Victoria Om to the line for free throws. Converting both free throws, Fountain Valley entered the final 42 seconds with a 48-44 lead.
And with Warriors scoring only two of three free throws from a final foul call, Fountain Valley will advance to the second round of the Division 2A points in an away game against Rolling Hills Prep, Coastal League champions, on Saturday at 7:00 p.m.
“Every time we advance, it’s going to be a tough game … We only have one day to prepare. Almost every single game we played away, we’ve had a slow start, so we need to make sure we find a way to click into a mindset where we’re ready to go from the very beginning,” Izabella Om said. “Every game could be your last game in the playoffs, so we have to play more defense and hustling to do whatever you can to get the ball.”
