Girls basketball: Six titles and counting for Poly
Long Beach Poly, including senior Jada Matthews kissing the trophy, celebrates their 70-52 victory over Salesian in the CIF Girls Open Division State Championship game at Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento.
KEVIN SULLIVAN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Poly High put an exclamation point on the belief that it has the strongest girls basketball program in the state – and one of the great girls prep basketball coaches of all time – when it finished strong to defeat Salesian, 70-52, Saturday night in Sacramento.
The victory in the CIF State Open Division title gave Poly its second consecutive state title and its sixth overall, all under coach Carl Buggs since 2006. The victory leaves Buggs tied for the most state championships in California girls basketball history.
“They’re all special in their own way,” a weary Buggs said Sunday during the team’s long bus ride home. “It never gets old.
“I didn’t know about the record (for most state titles) until a reporter mentioned it to me after the game. I’m not really one for records. I’m happier for the girls who got a chance to experience this. They’ll remember it the rest of their lives.”
Poly, which lost twice to Windward during the season, including a crushing defeat during the CIF Open Division semifinals, came back strong during the two-week break before the CIF State Open Division playoffs began March 14. The Jackrabbits finished 27-3 after pounding Bishop’s of La Jolla, winning handily at Mater Dei, edging Etiwanda and subduing Northern California Regional champion Salesian of Richmond, which fell to 30-6.
“We really did play our best ball during the state playoffs,” Buggs said. “I knew it was all in place. It was just a matter of coming together.
“Once we lost to Windward that second time, we had two weeks to get ready for state. I saw a different mentality during that time, a different attitude. That was when I felt like we got it all together.”
It is Poly’s second streak of state titles. The Jackrabbits won four in a row in 2006-09 before starting another streak last year.
And there’s no reason to believe 2014 will mark the end of Poly’s dynasty.
Poly loses eight seniors, six of them expected to get full rides to a Division I school, but no one was more important to its last victory than 6-foot-3 freshman center Ayanna Clark, who scored 19 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in just 17 minutes off the bench.
Clark scored 14 of her game-high 19 points in the second half, including seven at the end of the third quarter, when Poly capped a 12-3 rally from a 39-36 deficit to a 48-42 lead entering the fourth quarter. Poly, which was outscored 16-0 at the start of the second half, outscored Salesian, 21-10, in the fourth quarter to turn the championship game into a runaway victory.
“She played her best game of the year right there,” Buggs said. “She was probably the one on the court who was most important when we got back on track. She was a beast in the second half.”
Junior guard Tania Lamb was the team’s second-highest scorer with 13 points, nine coming on 3-of-4 shooting on 3-pointers. Eight other nonseniors also played in Poly’s last game of the 2013-14 season.
“We’ll have a good group coming back,” Buggs said. “There won’t be a lot of proven talent, but we have a good enough core.”
Starting 6-3 senior center Lajahna Drummer, a transfer from St. Bernard who sat out the first month of the season, scored 11 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the foul-plagued title game. Senior point guard Justyce Dawson added eight points, senior guard Arica Carter scored five and senior power forward Jada Matthews contributed six rebounds plus two points.