Cougars win thriller

The game was nip-and-tuck the entire way, with M-A rallying from a 37-30 deficit in the fourth quarter to take a 49-48 lead with 15 seconds left when Apé Ulukivaiola grabbed the Bears’ 19th offensive rebound of the night and laid it in.

But the Cougars weren’t done. Makena Glynn was intent to set a screen for teammate Xochitl Nieves to get a shot off. But Glynn rolled out of the screen, took a pass from Nieves and launched a 3-pointer from between the left elbow and the top of the key.

And railed it for a 51-49 lead with 3.8 seconds left.

“My first thought was setting the screen,” Glynn said. “But I just rolled and popped and had to take the shot.”

The game wasn’t over, however. The Bears called a timeout and had one last crack at the win. And they nearly got it. Inbounding the ball on the baseline, the inbound pass went to midcourt and then passed to a wide open Luisa Tava in the right corner.

She launched a 3 that was halfway down the cylinder before bouncing back up out, caroming off the backboard, rattling the rim one last time before falling off to give the Cougars the dramatic win and sole possession of first place in the Bay Division.

“Super stressful,” Glynn said as she watched that last-second shot rattle out. “Super glad we pulled through.”

Glynn finished with a game-high 20 points, connecting on four 3-pointers along the way. Nieves had 14 points, also hitting on four 3s.

The in-and-out miss by M-A was a microcosm of the game. M-A (5-1 PAL Bay, 13-3 overall) outrebounded Half Moon Bay (6-0, 14-3) 38-29, with the aforementioned 19 offensive boards. The Bears also took care of the ball, committing just eight turnovers.

The problem was, they simply could not buy a basket. The Bears shot just 6 for 35 in the first half — just 17% shooting. They were marginally better in the second half, connecting on 11 of 28 attempts, but finished the game shooting 27%.

And that kept the Cougars in the contest. That and getting the ball inside. Half Moon Bay’s leading scorer, Zoe Lemoge, was limited to just two points in the first half, but had 10 in the second while grabbing five rebounds and blocking two shots.

Both teams struggled in the first half, with M-A holding a 20-17 lead at halftime and were up 23-19 early in the third.

But a 3-point barrage from the Cougars gave them the lead. Nieves hit on back-to-back treys, followed by a third from Glynn to put HMB up 28-23 with 4:32 left in the third as the Cougars led 34-30 going into the fourth.

And then Lita Fakapelea took over the Bears in the fourth, scoring 13 of her team-high 19 points in the final eight minutes. She used a combination of drives and jumpers — including a straight-away 3 as the shot clock ran out to tie the game at 41-all with 4:11 left to play.

“She’s fantastic,” Half Moon Bay head coach Megan Smith said of Fakapelea. “She scores at all three levels. We didn’t have an answer for her.”

There was one tie and six lead changes over the final four minutes of the game, but when it came down to crunch time, the Cougars know what it takes to win. The Coastside is known for producing scrappy, tenacious, physical players to fill the Half Moon Bay rosters of a school that has an enrollment of just over 800 students.

Additionally, nine players from this season’s squad played in the CIF Division IV state championship game last year, a 48-40 loss to Whitney.

“This is a state championship team. [We’ve] been in battles, in big-time environments. Nothing intimidates us,” Smith said. “We’re a resilient team. … I told [my team] they’re cut from a different cloth.”

M-A boys’ pull away to take over first place in Bay

Like the girls’ game, the M-A-HMB boys’ game was a battle of two undefeated teams in the PAL Bay Division.

When Half Moon Bay’s Levi Meighan knocked a fadeaway jumper with 5:47 left in the first quarter, the Cougars had a 6-4 lead.

It as their only lead of the game.

M-A led 14-12 after the first quarter and 26-21 at the break. The Bears pushed their lead to nine, 44-35, going into the fourth when they pulled away for a 61-48 win.

M-A (6-0 PAL Bay, 13-3 overall) had four of its five starters finish in double figures. Jerry Williams and Aiden Atkins each had 16 points apiece, while Luca Auer and Jacob Sutton each added 11.

Half Moon Bay (5-1, 11-7) got a team-high 16 points from Owen Perez, while leading scorer Gio Garduno-Martin was held in relative check as he finished with 14 points. Levi Meighan added 10 in the loss.