Gilroy loses CCS opener 58-56 to Carlmont
Milpitas – Anger, disbelief, frustration, hurt.
Even 10 minutes after the end of the game, those overwhelming emotions prevented the Gilroy girls basketball team from offering too many words. But they didn’t have to. Their tear-streaked faces said it all.
The No. 2 seed losing to the No. 7 seed? This wasn’t the way it was supposed to end, especially not for a team led by a veteran group of seniors.
But on Saturday afternoon, the Lady Mustangs suffered a season-ending 58-56 loss to defending champion and seventh-seeded Carlmont in Saturday’s quarterfinals of the Central Coast Section Division I basketball playoffs.
Carlmont (18-10) will play No. 3 Milpitas (18-6) Wednesday in the semifinals. Gilroy finished the season 23-5.
“It’s really upsetting,” senior forward Jessica Groppe, fighting back tears.
“We came so far,” added senior forward Katherine Hussey, who led all scorers with 18 points.
But Carlmont came to Milpitas High ready to stop the Lady Mustangs’ dream season Saturday. The Scots played aggressively, throwing the Mustangs out of their normal flow.
Still, the Mustangs fought back for the chance to at least tie the game with three seconds to go. With 18.6 seconds left, Gilroy fouled the Scots to put them in the bonus, sending guard Melissa Ho (12 points) to the line for a 1-and-1 opportunity. Ho made the front end to put Carlmont up 58-56. Gilroy sophomore Vanessa Wilkins, who tore down nine rebounds in the game, grabbed the board after the miss and took the ball the length of the court. As she got closer to the basket, the sophomore hesitated before continuing hard to the basket. She drew contact, but was called for a charge. That gave the Scots the ball with 9.4 seconds remaining. The Mustangs fouled immediately, sending Carlmont senior Jennica Janssen (8 points) to the line. She missed her front end and Hussey grabbed the rebound. After the crossed halfcourt, Gilroy head coach Kari Williams called a timeout with three seconds left on the clock to draw up a final play.
“The ball was supposed to go to (point guard) Kristen (Campos), but she didn’t come clean off the screen,” Williams said. “I told them to take the ball to the hole. They’re going to foul you.”
The ball ended up back in the hands of Wilkins (10 points, 3 steals) who had inbounded the ball at Gilroy’s end of the floor in front of the team’s bench. The sophomore drove from the left side of the court to the middle of the lane and attempted an 8-foot jumper at the buzzer. Wilkins’ appeared to draw contact from the Carlmont player as her shot was blocked, but no call was made.
Williams and the Gilroy players on the bench reacted by throwing their hands up and yelling for a foul. The response was very thematic of the frustration Gilroy had dealt with throughout the game.
“We couldn’t even get to what we wanted to do,” said Groppe (10 points) about the physical nature of the game, which was characterized by players diving for loose balls, getting into tie-ups and caught in double- and triple-teams.
Though Williams was somewhat frustrated with the officiating, she credited Carlmont with making big shots – including five three-pointers – and lamented that her own team didn’t execute better earlier in the game.
“I can’t blame it on the refs,” Williams said. “You have to adapt to the ballgame.”
I just feel bad for the seniors. They gave so much and to have it go down to no calls or whatever is hard,” she added. “It’s really, really hard.”
Gilroy trailed 14-10 after the first quarter, but clawed back in the second to take a 30-25 halftime lead. With 5:16 left until the half, Campos (7 points, 5 assists) gave the Mustangs their first lead since the middle of the first quarter. She hit a three-pointer from the top of the key that ignited the Gilroy bench and fans and put the Mustangs up 19-18. Wilkins hit a jumper for Gilroy during its next possession. After Carlmont’s Teresa Naff answered with a basket at the other end to cut Gilroy’s lead to 21-20, the Mustangs scored seven unanswered points to go ahead 28-20. Groppe, Wilkins and Hussey combined to convert 4-of-8 free throws during that span, which was capped by a three from senior Marissa Nowakowski (5 points, 4 rebounds).
The Scots scored five points in the last minute of the second quarter to end the half within five points of the Mustangs. Carlmont would take that momentum into the third quarter, with guards Ho and Janssen hitting back-to-back threes. Gilroy suffered another blow when Groppe, who had been a huge force in the post, picked up her third foul with 5:13 left in the quarter and was forced to go to the bench. The senior forward finished with 14 rebounds. The teams were knotted at 45 going into the fourth quarter.
A jumper from Naff and another trey from Ho in the first minute and a half of fourth quarter put Carlmont up 50-45, which forced Gilroy to play catch-up for the final six and a half minutes.
With under two minutes to go, the Lady Mustangs made a final run at the Scots. Campos made two bonus free throws to get Gilroy within 52-55. Wilkins stole the ball at her teammates capitalized at the other end with Hussey finding Groppe in the low post for a basket, cutting the Scots’ lead to 55-54. Carlmont’s Melissa Stahl’s jumper gave the Scots a three-point cushion, but Hussey cut the lead to one point again with a lay-up with 40 seconds to play. From there, the Lady Mustangs were forced to foul, but couldn’t get even.
Coming into the season, Gilroy had two goals: Win the Tri-County Athletic League and a CCS title. But for the six seniors – guard Nina Blas, Campos, forward Sara Griffis Groppe, Hussey and Nowakowski – the latter remained elusive.
“At least we got one of two goals. We have to look at the upside, but it’s very disappointing,” Nowakowski said. “This season, I wouldn’t trade for any of the other three years. I’m glad to end with this group.”
(7) Carlmont 58, (2) Gilroy 56
Carlmont 14 11 20 13 -58
Gilroy 10 20 15 11 -56
Gilroy (23-5), Carlmont (18-10)
