Bearcats pull out win

All she did was draw a foul with 1.3 seconds left and then make 1 of 2 free throws to give San Mateo a 61-60 win and a season sweep of the Panthers for the first time since anyone can remember.

It also earned the Bearcats a second-place finish in the Peninsula Athletic League's Central Division and a spot in the Peninsula Athletic League playoffs which begin Tuesday.

Despite the loss, Burlingame also qualified for the PAL playoffs, finishing in third place in the Central Division. The Panthers will play either Menlo-Atherton or Carlmont in the first round of the tournament.

"This has got to be the biggest win San Mateo girls' basketball has ever had," Kryger said. "We had a tough week last week (a two-point loss to Mills and a blowout loss to Aragon). To bounce back against a quality team like Burlingame..."

It wasn't easy -- not that San Mateo (7-3 PAL Central, 17-7 overall) expected anything less. Yet it was Kawakatsu's bold play that was the difference. The Bearcats had the ball with under 30 seconds left on game clock and about a second differential on the shot clock. They swung the ball around, trying to get the ball inside. Kawakatsu had the ball at the top of the 3-point line with five seconds left on the game clock and four on the shot clock. It would have been easy for her to just launch a desperation jumper, but that's not Kawakatsu's style. She's a slasher and she wasn't about to change her style with the game on line.

She put her head down and headed into the key -- where she was hammered by Burlingame's Erin Scattini with 1.3 seconds left in the game. Burlingame called a timeout, trying to ice Kawakatsu, but she came back and swished the first free throw. Her second bounced off the rim and into the hands of Ashley Posey, who flung the ball down court as time expired.

"[Kawakatsu] is the hardest working player I've ever seen," Kryger said. "For her to understand the game and take it to the basket at that moment, that's everything you need to know about her."

It was a rough final 30 seconds for Scattini. Just before her foul, she had a running layup roll around the rim and slide off -- a bucket that would have given Burlingame (6-4, 12-14) the lead.

"I just said (to Scattini after the game), 'Hey, great job. Don't blame yourself,'" said Burlingame coach Frank Firpo. "It was a very good high school game. San Mateo is an excellent team."

San Mateo needed one of its best team efforts of the season to pull out the win. Lauren Yamauchi scored a game-high 20 points, draining six 3-pointers in the process. But it was the play of the Bearcats' "twin towers" that was the difference in this game. Keisarina Hafoka and Alisi Nipalau -- both 6-foot senior centers -- dominated the interior. The two combined for 27 points and 20 rebounds and left a slew of bumped and bruised Panthers in their wakes.

"They were tough. Especially when they were in there together," Firpo said.

Said Kryger: "When we have good ball movement, they're hard to stop. Our guards did a good job of being patient and getting the ball to them."

Burlingame was led by Posey's 15 points and 10 rebounds. Scattini added 14, Rachel Gardner had 12 and Malaspina chipped in with 10.

San Mateo had chances all game long to put the Panthers away, but Burlingame was having none of it. San Mateo held a 20-13 lead after the first quarter and led 32-26 at halftime. Despite hitting just six shots from the field in the first half, Burlingame stayed in the game from the free-throw line, converting 11 of 14 attempts.

The game tightened up in the second half. Gardner's driving layup put Burlingame up 35-34 with four minutes left in the third quarter but San Mateo responded with a 6-0 run and led 48-41 going into the fourth quarter.

Burlingame started the final eight minutes with an 8-2 run to pull within a point, 50-49. The Panthers took their last lead of the game, 55-54, on another Gardner basket with 4:04 left to play. Yamauchi hit a layup to put San Mateo back on top but Posey hit 1 of 2 free throws with 2:17 left to tie the game at 56 and set up the final frantic minutes.

"I think we did a lot of little things (right) on both ends of the court," Kryger said. "[The difference in the game] was a lot of things we did tonight."

Nathan Mollat can be reached by e-mail: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 117.