Sequoia girls' basketball rallies for win

Both teams like to muck things up. Woodside uses a frenetic pace to force turnovers and generate offense, while Sequoia first, second and third options are to get the ball to 6-4 center Aniyah Hall.

For three quarters, it looked as if Woodside’ style of play would prevail. But Sequoia rallied from a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter, withstanding a last-second, game-winning shot attempt and escaping with a 35-34 victory.

“That was our style of game,” said Sequoia head coach Josh Yee. “Forty (points) or under.”

While Woodside (0-2 PAL South, 7-7 overall) head coach Jason Llantero lamented the huge free throw discrepancy — Woodside took just four foul shots, compared to 30 for Sequoia — the game was still there for the Wildcats to take.

Despite coming up with 10 steals in the first half, a full-court press that gave Sequoia (2-0, 7-5) all kind of trouble and the fact Sequoia hit on just 3-of-12 from the free-throw line, the Wildcats only led 17-12 at halftime.

“It was hard to watch,” Llantero said. “We want to play fast. We have to press to generate points.”

Things were starting to look like they were going the Wildcats way in the third quarter, however. Madi Escobar hit a 3 and a long 2, sandwiched around a Gabrielle Gerrodette 3 to open up a 25-16 lead midway through the third period. When Gerrodette flipped in a deep 3-pointer at the quarter horn, it looked like Woodside was in control, leading 29-22 going into the fourth.

Gerrodette finished with a team-high 11 points.

When Sophia Pestoni knocked down a jumper to open the fourth, the Wildcats had their biggest lead of the game, 31-22.

They wouldn’t score again until there were 11 seconds left in the game.

Between those baskets, Sequoia went on a 13-0 run. Again, it wasn’t pretty. Ravens hit on just 3-of-14 free throws, but they made up for it on defensive end by controlling the boards. Hall, who struggled to a 17-point night, was instrumental down the stretch, swooping in for rebound after rebound.

She finished with 13 boards, including six on the offensive end.

The Ravens’ offense then did just enough. While Hall was the focal point of the offense most of the night, the Ravens got just enough from the rest of the team to put them over the top.

Grace Johnson’s basket cut the Sequoia deficit to 31-26 before Hall scored on a putback to cut the deficit to three. It was a 1-point Woodside lead when Mikayla Gee converted a bucket and when Johnson converted a layup on a fast break, it gave the Ravens a 32-31 lead — their first since 11-8 in the second quarter.

“We call those players our ‘mojo players,’” Yee said. “How are they going to come back?”

Jada Crockett hit 1 of 2 free throws to push the Sequoia lead to 33-31 before Blessing Taimani scored on putback for a 35-31 lead with 2:13 to play.

It turned out to the game-winning basket for Sequoia. The Ravens had a chance to ice the game at the line, but missed six in a row.

Woodside, however, could not take advantage. Claire Sonnenburg gave the Wildcats some hope when she drained a corner 3 with 11 seconds left and they had a chance to win the game after Woodside missed two free throws with just over seven seconds to play.

After a Sequoia foul, Woodside had the ball out of bounds on the sideline with three seconds to play. The Wildcats got the ball into senior Sierra Pestoni on the block, who spun toward the baseline, took a couple of dribbles and put a shot — that was short.

Sequoia grabbed the rebound and the win.

“All you can ask is to have a shot at the end,” Llantero said. “We got what we wanted.”

Woodside got what it wanted in the first half: a pressure defense had Sequoia uncomfortable, to say the least. The Ravens had a hard time bringing the ball up the court against the press. When they did so successfully, they were so rushed that it resulted in a quick shot or a turnover.

Hall was especially frustrated as she had several point-blank looks, but couldn’t convert the layups. She also dribbled the ball off her leg and foot on a couple of occasions, adding to the pressure.

Despite all that, Woodside could not take advantage. After leading just 8-6 after the first period, Sequoia scored the first five points of the second to take an 11-8 lead on a Hall layup.

But Woodside responded with an 8-0 run. The Wildcats got a 3 Olivia Seto to tie the score at 11 and a short jumper from Sophia Pestoni gave the lead back to Woodside. Escobar then came up with a steal and fast-break layup and a steal and layup from Escobar gave the Wildcats a 15-11 advantage. Seto then capped the run with a leaner to put the Wildcats up 17-12 at the break.

“It wasn’t falling for us early,” Yee said. “Our biggest thing (at halftime) was, patience and poise. … Everyone just stayed together.”