GARDEN GROVE — Costa Mesa put itself in the driver’s seat for its first girls’ basketball league championship in seven years with an ugly, sloppy and ultimately thrilling overtime triumph Friday night at Garden Grove, completing a sweep of its only true Orange Coast League competition.
Leilani Quero hit a three-pointer from the right wing with 3.9 seconds on the clock to complete a late, desperate rally and force overtime, then Paula Pacheco scored five points in the extra period, forging a 44-40 triumph that kept alive the Mustangs’ dream of a first unbeaten league campaign in 42 years.
That, too, would seem assured — Costa Mesa (16-7 overall, 5-0 in the Orange Coast League) has to play three more games, Wednesday at Ocean View (7-16, 0-4) and home Friday against Westminster (5-20, 3-3) and Feb. 3 against Katella (5-13, 1-4), foes it routed by 35, 24 and 24 points earlier this month — but nothing’s official at this point. Maybe next week.
Costa Mesa’s Aaliyah Terry (22) reaches for the ball against Garden Grove’s Hana Hardy (33) in an Orange Coast League game on Friday.
(James Carbone)
“The job’s not done,” said second-year head coach Zedric McKee, who last year guided the Mustangs to the Division 5AA quarterfinals in the program’s first CIF Southern Section run in five years. “We got three more games. That’s the only thing I can say. That’s the only time I can relax.”
Everybody understands the landscape, knows how it’s going to play out, miracles or tragedy aside. The Orange Coast League’s median winning points total is 47.5, and only the Mustangs — in the first meeting with the remaining trio — have topped 55. It’s inevitable.
“It’s really rewarding after all these years,” said shooting guard Emi Kamikihara, a fourth-year starting guard who led Costa Mesa with 15 points. “First time, hopefully, winning league since 2019, and if we do it undefeated for the first time since, like, 1980-something? It would be really cool if that was the outcome.”
Costa Mesa’s Emi Kamikihara (4) shoots around a Garden Grove defender in an Orange Coast League girls’ basketball game on Friday.
(James Carbone)
The crucial victory didn’t come easy: the Mustangs missed their first eight shots and 16 of the first 17, didn’t take command until the second half, then watched a nine-point, fourth-quarter lead slip away in a 13-0 Garden Grove run that had them four down with barely a minute and a half to go. They made just 23% of their shots, went 4 of 27 from behind the arc, and rarely got second tries.
The finish aside, they prevailed through a suffocating press that forced Garden Grove (14-12, 4-2) into at least two dozen back-court turnovers (among 43 in all) and limited it to 23% shooting, too. They were beaten on the boards by a 74-43 margin and gave up 29 offensive rebounds but conceded only a dozen second-chance points.
Costa Mesa coach Zedric McKee celebrates with his team after a basket against Garden Grove in an Orange Coast League game on Friday.
(James Carbone)
“[That press is] pretty difficult [to handle], because they’re very pesky and they just get up in your face,” Garden Grove head coach Angel Lopez said. “And once the pressure comes to your head, you’re just all over the place.”
“I live and die off of defense,” said McKee, who was a defense-first forward at Garden Grove, Golden West College and Irvine-based NAIA-level Westcliff University and espouses the tenets of Kelvin Sampson, a longtime college and NBA coach currently in charge at the University of Houston. “[Sampson is] my biggest role model. He presses, he [emphasizes] defense … that’s what I love.”
His players have bought in.
Costa Mesa’s Myah Martinez (23) shoots from under the basket against Garden Grove in an Orange Coast League game on Friday.
(James Carbone)
“Defense is always the most important thing to us,” said Quero, also a fourth-year starter, who scored 10 points, led the Mustangs with nine rebounds, and made two fourth-quarter three-pointers. “Coach highlights that everyday. It’s really focusing on that and not really worrying about the offensive game. The offensive game will come, but the defensive part is the most important.”
The first half was played at a frenzied pace — McKee called it “havoc chaos” — and was back-and-forth through the second quarter, neither side ahead by more than a point, after the Argonauts built an 8-2 lead through nearly the first seven minutes. Costa Mesa started the second half with a 7-0 run and was ahead, 31-22 with 6:38 to play.
Costa Mesa’s Myah Martinez (23) and Aaliyah Terry (22) try to steal the ball from Garden Grove’s Mikaela Fernandez (3) on Friday in an Orange Coast League game.
(James Carbone)
Garden Grove began hacking at its deficit two minutes later, with two Valerie Trujillo free throws, then went on a 106-second, 11-point burst, sparked by Hana Hardy’s three-pointer and ensuing steal and layup, for a 35-31 advantage. Kamikihara’s three with 1:31 to go narrowed the margin, but the Argonauts’ lead was three after center Mikaela Fernandez, who had 18 rebounds, 11 on offense, scored on a putback with 39 seconds left.
The Mustangs had three chances to pull even, missed badly on the first two but got the ball back on a turnover after both, the last next to their bench, in their front court, with 11.7 seconds showing. Quero, on the sideline next to the bench, was open, and her shot was pure. They went ahead on a Pacheco free throw a minute into the four-minute overtime, with Hardy, Garden Grove’s catalyst, fouling out, took two three-point leads, then nailed it down on Pacheco’s 16-footer with 46 seconds to go.
Costa Mesa’s Paula Pacheco (3) plays defense against Garden Grove’s Valerie Trujillo (11) on Friday in an Orange Coast League girls’ basketball game.
(James Carbone)
Orange Coast League
Costa Mesa 44, Garden Grove 40 (OT)
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Costa Mesa 6 – 11 – 9 – 11 – 7 — 44
Garden Grove 10 – 8 – 2 – 17 – 3 — 40
CM — Kamikihara 15, Quero 10, Pacheco 7, Terry 6, M. Martinez 2, Y. Martinez 2, Scott 2.
3-pt. goals — Kamikihara 2, Quero 2.
Fouled out — None.
Technicals — None.
GG — Hardy 13, Clarke 6, Fernandez 6, Trujillo 6, Chavez 4, Bui 3, Nguyen 2.
3-pt. goals — Clarke 1, Hardy 1.
Fouled out — Hardy.
Technicals — None.
Costa Mesa’s Emi Kamikihara (4) and Leilani Quero (5) celebrate a basket against Garden Grove on Friday in an Orange Coast League girls’ basketball game.
(James Carbone)
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