Loading ...
This was Paly’s first victory against Gunn in more than three years. The last time Paly won was on Februrary 2, 2007 when the Vikings won 42-40.
“We haven’t beat Gunn in three years,” head coach Scott Peters said. “That’s a big psychological advantage to get that … in a sense that we can be as good as we want to be. We can use that to work harder and practice.”
Both the teams came into the game tied for first in SCVAL. The the victory gives Paly a one game lead with approximately one month remaining in the regular season.
Junior guard Lindsay Black led Paly with 14 points, nailing a game high four 3-pointers. Junior point guard Emilee Osagiede had scored 13 points and senior point guard Sydney Davis contributed 12 points.
The Vikings took an 11-8 lead in the first quarter behind several fast-break baskets by Davis. With 1:23 left in the first quarter, Davis once again gained possession of the ball after a block, dribbling across the court to score two points.
The score went back and forth during the second quarter until the Titans reeled off 10 consecutive points to put Paly behind, 15-23. However, a buzzer beater by Black cut the deficit to 5 and gave the Vikings some momentum heading into the half, trailing 18-23.
Paly came out strong in the second half and forced four consecutive turnovers by Gunn before Black drained another three to tie the game at 25.
Strong press defense gave Paly a 38-29 lead by the end of the third quarter.
Although the Titans rallied furiously in the fourth quarter, they were unable to close the gap and Paly finally claimed its first victory in the Titans over three years. The gym erupted in cheers as the whole team rushed onto the court to celebrate.
According to Peters, the key to Paly’s victory was outstanding defense in the second half.
“There’s a lot of emotion when you come here and for our girls we had a lot of unforced turnovers in the first half because of that emotion,” said Peters. “You don’t have to pump up the girls for this game, you more have to calm down and just execute what you practiced. They did a better job of that in the second half.”
The fact that the game was against their crosstown rival helped to motivate the Vikings.
“I think [the fact that we were playing Gunn] affected us negatively and positively,” Black said. “I think negatively we just thought that we needed to win, but positively we thought of the stuff that we needed to do to win.”
Despite the satisfying victory, Peters knows Paly still has work to do.
“We’ll celebrate it [the victory]”, said Peters. “But we’re going to come back on Monday and what we’re going to take from this is a belief in ourselves — that we can execute and be one of the top teams in the league and go from there.”
The Vikings will next play Los Gatos High School at 7 p.m. on Jan. 26 in Los Gatos.