Burlingame girls hold off Oak Grove in CCS basketball playoffs

But it was the play of Burlingame’s Michelle Moshkovoy who helped the Panthers hold off the Eagles, 63-57, to advance to the semifinals Thursday where they will play the winner of No. 10 Pioneer and No. 2 Aragon.

Moshkovoy, a junior guard, scored seven of her 16 points in the fourth quarter, as she helped her team maintain a lead. A cross-over, spinning layup at the rim with 5:46 to play put Burlingame (19-6) up 57-48.

“(Moskovoy’s growth this year) has been phenomenal,” said Burlingame head coach Joe Dito. “She’s always looking to distribute the ball. But she has such a great first step, we’ve been trying to get her attacking more.”

But Oak Grove (12-10) never gave up. Shaade Williams, who finished with a game-high 28 points, connected on a layup to spark a 9-1 run that saw the Eagles cut their deficit to 60-57 with 37 seconds remaining following a pair of Williams free throws.

It would be the final points of the game for the Eagles as Burlingame wobbled to the win from the free-throw line, converting 3-of-6 attempts. But Weisman knocked down her final three free throws to finally ice the win for the Panthers.

“My stars showed up,” Dito said.

While Weisman scored only three points in the final quarter, she did grab five rebounds in the quarter as the game devolved into a defensive battle in fourth period. But Uhrich who scored a team-high 20 points, and Weisman’s 19, were basically unstoppable for most of the game, especially in the third quarter when they combined for 16 of the team’s 20 points in the quarter.

With Weisman and Uhrich doing damage down low, Dito knew it would be the team’s bread and butter. As such, the Panthers attempted only seven 3-pointers, connecting on just one — a 3 from the top of the key by Moshkovoy in the second quarter.

“We purposefully stayed away from the 3 because we had such an advantage down low,” Dito said.

But being off eight days impacted Burlingame early as the Panthers struggled to connect on the most basic of basketball shots — the layup.

Meanwhile, Williams was raining in 3s in the opening quarter, hitting on three of them as the Eagles built a 14-8 after the opening eight minutes as the Eagles made four 3s in the quarter.

“Overall, I was disappointed in our defensive effort. We gave up too many 3s,” Dito said. “[Williams] is a good player.”

In the second quarter, Burlingame got its offense in gear. After an Eagles’ bucket to open the period, the Panthers responded with a 6-0 run — Uhrich scored on a pair of baskets off the dribble before feeding a slashing Moshkovoy for a layup as they cut the Oak Grove lead to 16-14 with 6:20 left in the half.

Down 18-15, Weisman muscled her way into the paint for 2 power points. That was followed by a Uhrich putback and another bucket off the bounce to give Burlingame a 21-20 lead with 2:52 left in the second quarter.

Uhrich was mostly unstoppable, scoring nine points in the period and adding three assists as the Panthers hit on 10 of 16 field attempts as they outscored the Eagles 22-12 in the period to take a 30-26 lead at halftime.

Burlingame continued its strong play in the third quarter, but this time Oak Grove kept up as both teams scored 20 points. Moshkovoy, Uhrich and Weisman led the charge early. Moshkovoy scored on a layup to open the second half, followed by back-to-back buckets from Uhrich. When Weisman scored on a layup following a scramble, it ignited a 8-3 run. When Weisman hit a pair of free throws, it resulted in the biggest lead of the game for either team, 10 points, with the Panthers up 44-34 midway through the third.

But the Eagles kept battling. Emilie Ngo converted a three-point play and Jayden Boudreaux canned a 3 and Oak Grove was down just 46-40. But the time the dust settled on the third quarter, both teams had scored 20 points and Burlingame’s lead going into the fourth was the same as it was a halftime, four points.

From there, it became a battle of attrition in the fourth quarter.

“I thought [Oak Grove] had a great game plan. They fought hard,” Dito said. “It was a great CCS victory for [our] program.”