Down 12 points at the beginning of the fourth quarter, the girls varsity basketball team orchestrated a memorable comeback against heated rival Gunn, sending the game into double overtime where Paly emerged victorious, 42-40.

On the line was the Lady Vikes’ (16-9, 7-3 league) Santa Clara Valley Athletic League crown, which was in jeopardy after Wednesday’s loss to Wilcox (18-4, 8-2 league). Both Wilcox, who now holds first place in the De Anza division, and Paly, in second, have two games left to determine the final league standings. In order for the Lady Vikes to even have a chance for the league title, they must win both games next week and can only hope that Wilcox stumbles along the way.

“We want first place in league so we’re all rooting for Gunn (15-10, 6-5 league) next Friday when they play Wilcox,” senior co-captain Katie Barich said. “We just need to get down to business and get the two wins next week.”

Compared with the Vikings’ effortless 65-40 defeat of Gunn on Jan. 19, Friday night’s rematch was nail-biting and tense till the last second. Despite the immense pressure riding on the girls’ performance, the seasonal illnesses that had ravaged key members of the team earlier in the week, and the absence of freshman Alex Nguyen, the Lady Vikes stayed focused on their goal.

“The loss Wednesday against Wilcox was tough for our team but we knew that the game against Gunn was just as important to keep us in the running for first place in league,” Barich said. “We really tried to forget the loss and concentrate completely on what we had to do to beat Gunn.”

Beating out Gunn was also something of a tradition for the Vikings. None of the team’s members have never lost to Gunn in their entire basketball careers at Paly.

The intense rivalry made for a heated match. Halfway through the quarter, the Lady Titans led 7-2 thanks to a 3-pointer, and two consecutive layups. It was clear that Paly was finding it difficult to keep up with Gunn’s fast pace while also struggling to retain possession of the ball. In the fifth minute, junior Nicole Behr cut into the Lady Titans’ lead with a dramatic 3-pointer. By the end of the quarter, Gunn held a 9-7 lead.

“Gunn came out strong with a lot of pressure,” Barich said. “They capitalized on our turnovers and had a lot of energy. We had a tough first three quarters and Gunn really took advantage of our weaknesses that we’re usually able to get away with.”

In the second quarter, all of Paly’s four points came from free throws. Due to the Titans’ tight defense, the Lady Vikes were unable to penetrate the key. A combination of bad passing and failure to get open also besieged the Vikings. The Titans shot only 11 of 29, but closed the game’s first half with a considerably increased 22-11 lead.

“Gunn maintained a strong presence the entire night,” Pecota said. “But the halftime score was not decisive of the game’s outcome.”

The third quarter saw some improvement for the Lady Vikes. Paly stepped up and managed 6 points to fall slightly short of Gunn’s 7 points. The most notable performances came from Barich and Pecota who both led the Vikings’ numerous offensive charges, only two of which were successful. Paly head coach Scott Peters’ adherence to a zone defense strategy allowed the Titans to plummet two consecutive layups and a free throw, to seal the third quarter score at 29-17 in Gunn’s favor. Although Gunn furthered their lead by one, the Lady Titans’ endurance was visibly waning while the Lady Vikes’ were slowly building momentum.

“The first three quarters of the game were very uncharacteristic of our team and possibly the worst three quarters of our entire season, but our team has always played best in the fourth quarter so I knew we weren’t ever out of the game,” Barich said. “We just needed to get our momentum up so when we made some baskets and began a run on Gunn, I knew it was going to be a good game.”

Barich opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer, followed by a field goal from Pecota, which Paly fans encouraged with jubilant cheers. With Barich aggressively pursuing rebounds, and the rest of the team following suit, it looked as though Paly was gaining the upper hand. McDermott’s two full-court drives, each culminating in a layup, curbed Gunn’s lead down to 29-26. As the clock ticked down, the Titans began fouling the Vikings to force free throws and extend the game. By the sixth minute, Gunn led the scoreboard by four thanks to two contentiously awarded free throws.

“Our coach stuck with the players on the court since the group of us was playing really well together,” Barich said. “We used the momentum of the crowd to push us to a win.”

With two minutes left in the game, the usually expedient Lady Titans reverted to a buying-time strategy. But with Paly hot on their heels, Gunn didn’t stand a chance. For the first time in the game, Behr tied up the score at 31 points with two free throws as both teams headed into the final minute of play. To the anxiety of Paly fans, Gunn was awarded two free throws, both of which they missed. In order to prevent Gunn from scoring in the last 30 seconds of the game, McDermott held onto the ball. A last-minute half-court drive ended ineffectually for the Lady Vikes, and the fourth quarter came to a close with the score still tied up at 31, sending the game into overtime.

“We knew we only had a small gap of opportunity going into overtime,” sophomore Lizzie Henehan said. “But we made sure that we didn’t waste it.”

The first 30 seconds of the four-minute overtime were by far the most eventful. Within 15 seconds of each other, Paly and Gunn swapped layups to prolong the deadlock. A couple minutes later, the stalemate remained unresolved after both teams swished free throws, ending the first round of overtime with a 34-34 impasse.

In the second round of overtime, in the third minute, the Vikings established their first lead of the game by making four of six free throws, bringing the score to 38-34. In the fourth and final minute of the game, Pecota scored off an assist from Barich, and the Titans countered with a field goal of their own. With Gunn trailing 40-36, the game was still largely up for grabs. Free throws from both teams left the scoreboard reading 41-37 as a mere 29.7 seconds remained in the game. After Gunn came within one point of Paly with a 3-pointer in the last ten seconds of the period, it appeared as though a third round of overtime was imminent. However, the Lady Vikes sealed their victory when Pecota made the last free throw of the game with only 0.3 seconds left. The Lady Vikes held onto their claims for the SCVAL crown with a 42-40 conquest of Gunn.

Despite a sweet victory, the Vikings still have critical matches ahead of them.

“Playing against Gunn, we found out a lot of our weaknesses so we are really going to try and work on improving this upcoming week in practice to be ready for CCS,” Barich said.

The Vikings head to Milpitas for a Feb. 14 Valentine’s Day showdown before returning home for the final game of the regular season against Fremont on Feb. 16. The Vikings beat Fremont earlier in the season, but lost out to Milpitas just last month. The Fremont match-up takes place on the final quad night of the year with the girls tipping-off at 6:15 p.m.