Mills wins special championship

This week unveiled the first annual Kelly Shea Gallo Memorial Classic to honor the former Mills coach who died in May from breast cancer. When the final horn sounded, the Vikings celebrated like they had won the Central Coast Section title.

"[The tournament title] was very important since we're defending champions," said Lavinia Fanaika, who was named the tournament's MVP and finished the game with a team-high 15 points.

"We had to start off winning the first annual Kelly Shea Gallo tournament.

"Winning was the only option [Friday night]."

In front of Shea Gallo's family, Mills (4-0) jumped out to a 16-7 first-quarter lead. Using suffocating defense and an offense that runs at every opportunity, the Vikings came out flying. Point guard Tiffany Callahan drained a 3-pointer to start things off as six different players scored in the first quarter.

The Mills defense caused 11 Palo Alto turnovers and out-rebounded it 10-7. Mills seemed to get a hand on every Palo Alto pass and harassed it into several turnovers that resulted in easy baskets.

Mills extended its lead to 18-7 early in the second quarter but a cold shooting night soon turned frigid. Mills hit only 3 of 15 shots in the second quarter as Palo Alto's offense warmed up. Mills led 24-15 after two Fanaika free throws but Palo Alto responded with a 7-0 run to cut the Mills lead to 24-22.

"The shots were there, they just didn't drop," said Mills coach Dan Salvemini.

Callahan stopped the run with two free throws and gave Mills some momentum heading into the locker room when she buried another 3-pointer with 10 seconds left in the half.

Mills' shooting woes continued in the third quarter as it was outscored 12-10 by Palo Alto. Fanaika's 3-pointer with less than a minute to play in the third boosted Mills' lead to 39-34 but Bre Clay's jump hook cut the Mills lead to 39-36 heading into the final eight minutes.

"They had a spell where they came down and were finishing baskets," Salvemini said. "But we adjusted."

Since the outside shots couldn't find their way to the bottom of the basket, Mills turned to driving to the hoop and it paid off. Mills made only three field goals in the fourth quarter but hit 10 of 16 free throws to ice the game.

Besides Fanaika, two other Mills players finished in double figures. Hazel Mauk had 13 and Callahan chipped in with 10. Palo Alto was paced by Clay's 17.

During the awards ceremony, several of the Mills players were crying as they accepted their trophies from Shea Gallo's husband, Mark.

"[The players] are aware of (what the tournament meant) and it hit them at the end of the game," Salvemini said. "It was a beautiful moment."

Terra Nova 44, Notre Dame-Belmont 42

Terra Nova overcame a seven-point, third-quarter deficit to beat Notre Dame in the third-place game.

Terra Nova's Jasmine Samifua scored 7 of her game-high 20 points in the fourth quarter. Notre Dame was led by Anica Chavez who scored 15.