Friday night’s Division 2 championship game was a night that the Saugus Centurions wished they could have back.
Following a 6-0 scoring run to open the game, the Centurions shot 5-for-28 from the field for the rest of the first half and gave the lead back to the Crescenta Valley Falcons.
By the end, the Falcons defeated Saugus, 50-43, with the Lady Centurions finishing as the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section Division 2 runners-up at the Toyota Arena in Ontario.
“That first half was not us. We couldn’t get that ball to go in the hoop,” Saugus head coach Anthony Falasca said. “But when you don’t put the ball in the basket and you don’t put pressure on them to come back on the offensive end because they got a rebound, I think it’s tough.”
Despite the loss, Falasca expressed a sense of accomplishment after the game with the Lady Centurions appearing in the championship game as he and the team get to bring back a CIF finalist plaque to Saugus High School.
“I took over the program four years ago, and if you asked me then if we’d get to a CIF championship? It was never,” he said. “I think we’ve come a long way with how we’ve grown … I think being able to take this back to Santa Clarita and share the things that we’ve done, not only this year, but the last four years is vital for us as a program and us as a community.”
In the loss, the one player that Falasca relied on to score points for Saugus was senior guard Jasmine Garcia.
Throughout the game, Garcia scored timely points and finished the day as the leading scorer for Saugus with 16 points on 5-for-15 from the field.
In the second half, the lady Centurions shot better from the field.
In the opening minutes of the third quarter, the Lady Centurions opened with a 5-0 scoring run, which prompted a timeout from the Falcons.
Throughout the second half, the Lady Centurions were 7-for-28 from the field and put pressure on the Falcons. And in the fourth quarter, the Lady Centurions opened the frame with another 5-0 scoring run to cut the Falcon’s lead to 40-34.
But in the fourth quarter, the Falcons kept up with the pace Saugus set and outscored the Lady Centurions 10-9 to close out the game.
“When it comes down to it, you can’t trade baskets when you’re down by that much,” Falasca said. “It’s a game of runs. We went on one and they went on one. And in that fourth quarter, we didn’t capitalize on three or four possessions in a row. And that hurts you.”
Although the Lady Centurions did not finish the Southern Section playoffs as champions, the season isn’t over for Saugus.
The Lady Centurions are scheduled to compete in the CIF state playoffs, set to begin on Tuesday.
For Centurions senior guard EvaMarie Rios, losing out on the Division 2 championship hurts. But the opportunity to play for a state title has her already motivated to get back on the court.
“We can’t go back to the past and change what happened,” she said. “So, we still have state, and we’re just going to head back to practice probably tomorrow morning and just get back at it.”
