Crystal plows into Nor Cal title game

No. 7-seed Crystal (14-12) will now host No. 13 Oakland in a Tuesday showdown in Hillsborough. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.

“Obviously, the team is pretty excited,” Crystal assistant coach Anthony Jones said. “This was a team goal from the beginning of the season, and we’re just excited to keep it moving. ... This was a unique experience for us. It was a very interesting game, and we’re just happy to come out on the positive end of it.”

With the team hunkering down at a nearby Redding hotel Friday night, the Gryphons took a charter bus to the game through the foothills of the Trinity Alps Wilderness. The game was moved to 3 p.m., from the originally scheduled 7 p.m., due to a snowstorm in the forecast. It didn’t snow for most of the bus trip until arriving at the game site, where it turned into a picturesque snow globe at Trinity High School in the early afternoon.

As the Gryphons off-boarded the bus, playful snowball fights transpired between many of the teammates. But the biggest snowball fight was the game itself, as Crystal and Trinity locked up for a physical and frustrating game, where both teams shined on defense, but neither could find rhythms on offense.

No. 6 Trinity (21-12) was plagued by 32 turnovers in the game, including 12 in the first quarter. Crystal senior Jemma Lacap and Maile Bateman were ball hawks, combining for five steals in the opening quarter. Bateman went on to record a game-high seven steals.

“The beginning of the season, yeah, we had a hard time protecting the ball,” Trinity co-head coach Caitlin Montgomery said. “But we felt like we had cleaned that up. But [Crystal] did a really amazing job on their press. You guys really threw us off today. We really didn’t get into our set offense many times in this game.”

The Gryphons did little to turn those takeaways into points, though. Crystal had five misses on transition breaks in the opening period. Despite building an 11-2 lead six minutes into the game, the Wolves took a 9-1 run into the second to cut it to 12-11 on a put-back by freshman Braelynn Nugent.

“I thought we were playing just a little bit tight to begin with,” Crystal head coach David Weinstein said. “We just weren’t comfortable with what we were doing, but that happens. That happens in big games, and we’re getting used to how it goes. So, we just tried to stay calm as much as we could and things would turn us for us the way they did.”

The Crystal bench ignited a 9-0 run, though. Sophomore center Riley Martin checked out midway through the first quarter with her second foul, and freshman post Isabella Greenblatt came to the rescue with a tic-tac-toe layup to make it 14-11. Lacap followed with a dribble-drive floater, and senior Angelica-Reese Estrada banked in a 3-pointer, before sophomore forward Camille Antiporda closed the run with a creative left-handed layup to push the lead to 21-11.

The Gryphons led by as much as 33-19 to start the second half. But Crystal’s tepid performance of 31.4% shooting from the field — much in part to Trinity’s stalwart interior defense not allowing many lanes to the bucket — would prove problematic in the long run.

“Defense has won our games all year,” Montgomery said. “We have an incredible defensive team. So, we didn’t do anything special for this game. We were just playing our ‘D.’ If we would have put in our shots and our free throws, we would have had a much closer game.”

The Wolves shot worse than Crystal, converting just 30.2% of their shots. They made 13 of 26 free throws.

Bateman led the Gryphons with 21 points, while Lacap settled for 14 points but leading the team with nine rebounds.

“I would say it was a bit difficult for me, especially in the first half,” Lacap said. “Because one of my strengths is driving. So, I guess I kind of just had to adjust to their bigs staying inside.”

Crystal’s defense played with a masterclass of intensity though. Watching Bateman and Lacap execute consecutive takeaways in the first half was unreal. The downside, however, was the Gryphons’ entire starting five found themselves in foul trouble.

“We always play a physical, aggressive game,” Bateman said. “But today we knew we would have to be disciplined with our physicality because, coming out this far, we didn’t know how the refs were going to call the game, how the other team was going to be. So, we did our best to adjust to the way the game was being played, and I think we did our best.”

Three starters — Dela Cruz, Antiporda and Martin — fouled out like falling dominoes late in the fourth quarter. The other two starers — Bateman and Lacap — each finished with four fouls. This left a streamlined Crystal team, with just eight players on roster, with just one available reserve available to come off the bench.

“We still had another player on the bench, they could have come in,” Weinstein said. “I think you’re allowed to play with four if somehow that happened again.”

Crystal started the fourth quarter leading 41-30, but Trinity started chipping away. The Wolves cut it to single digits 43-34 on a sweet finger-roll by senior Hazel DeLange, and things really started getting interesting when the versatile sophomore Claire Cox, despite slumping terribly from the free-throw line, converted an and-1 to make it 45-39.

But Crystal delivered from the stripe down the stretch, putting down 9 of 16 free throws in the quarter.

“We had a lead, and we just felt like if we could just control the ball, they’re going to have to foul us,” Weinstein said. “And there was already five team fouls in the fourth quarter, so we knew we were going to go to the free-throw line. And we were just using the clock. That was our advantage.”

With three starters watching from the bench, the closing two minutes got really scary when Trinity freshman Kloe Kist sank a floater to make it a two-possession game at 48-44.

That’s when Greenblatt got the free-throw line at the other side and delivered one of the most critical points of the game. The freshman post player hasn’t attempted many free throws this year, and certainly none with the season on the line. But she — like the rest of the Gryphons — proved cool as ice in the clutch, sinking the first of two free throws to relax everyone on Crystal blue.

“I was a little bit more nervous because I hurt my shooting hand,” Greenblatt said. “But I was really happy that I was able to help our team a little bit, making that first free throw.”

Bateman followed by making 4 of 6 free throws in the last minute to put the game away.

It was an emotional scene for a Trinity team that proved a class act every step of the way, especially since the Wolves were without two players. Senior forward Chloe Albiez, who was the team’s second leading scorer and rebounder this season, was one of them.

A majority of the Wolves grew up playing together since elementary school, and went on to play for Weaverville’s first AAU team, Trinity Triple Threat.

While Trinity had its TTT core, however, Crystal proved TAN, as in tough as nails. It’s the second time in school history the Gryphons have advanced to the Nor Cal semis. The last time was in 2021-22, when they were eliminated on the road at San Domenico-San Anselmo. This year, they are going at least one round farther with a chance to win some Nor Cal hardware.

“I’m honestly speechless about it,” Lacap said. “I’m just proud of the whole team for just keeping our composure, especially with the big crowd and all of that.”