M-A hoops crowned after epic comeback

Then something clicked — call it clutch, destiny, magic, all of the above — and M-A closed the night on a 17-3 run to stun No. 1-seed Palo Alto (18-8) on the Vikings’ home court, culminating with an Alyssa Faberowski 3-pointer with three seconds to play to deliver a 34-32 victory and a CCS championship crown.

“That was awesome,” Bears head coach Steve Yob said. “We haven’t had a comeback all year like that. That was amazing. These girls, they didn’t up. We pressured them. The crowd was getting louder and louder as we were coming back. It was amazing.”

Faberowski was an unlikely heroine in that the 3-pointer produced the only points she scored all night. The sophomore guard had a clutch steal to set up the possession that will be remembered as one of the great moments in the illustrious history of M-A girls’ basketball.

“It was amazing,” Yob said. “I can’t believe that was Alyssa’s first shot of the game. … What a way to end it, that’s all I can say.”

The sophomore’s 3-pointer was actually the Bears’ second attempt of the possession. The first 3 was put up by junior Catherine Chai, but it was off the mark, careening long off the cylinder. Faberowski, though, chased down a long rebound, sprinting into the corner so fast that as she snatched the ball away from a Palo Alto defender, she was teetering near the baseline and about to fall out of bounds.

Then she heard the whistle blow.

“I thought I stepped on the line and I was like, ‘oh no!’” Faberowski said. “Then I turned around and coach had called timeout. And I was like, ‘Oh my God! Yes!’”

“I think I was yelling timeout before she even got it,” Yob said.

The timeout was indeed the reason for the whistle, and the Bears secured a new shot clock with 36.7 seconds remaining in regulation. The game had been tied on M-A’s previous possession with a short floater from senior forward Linnea Lindblom. And the Bears drew up a play for a shooter like Lindblom or Chai to try a go-ahead shot.

“Just get it in, just take the last shot,” Yob said. “It was going to be last shot or overtime, was the plan.”

Faberowski said she was the last person on the court thinking about taking a shot.

“Actually, I was like, I’m just going to stand in the corner, I’m going to let somebody else do this,” Faberowski said. “I wasn’t hot at all that game.”

After M-A inbounded, however, the game plan went out the window as Palo Alto made a surprise switch defensively. Then, as Faberowski described, it was just ball out and figure it out.

“Then it started ticking down and I was like: ‘Oh no, eight seconds!’” Faberowski said. “And then I got the ball and I shot it and it just went in. And part of that was just having confidence that it was going to go in.”

Chai and junior guard Nicolette Yeh led M-A with 10 points apiece, matched by Palo Alto junior Elif Turgut for the game-high. It was Turgut who had Palo Alto’s lone field goal of the fourth quarter.

M-A took the led briefly 9-8 at the start of the second quarter when Chai drilled a 3 from the top of the key. But after the Vikings tied it with a free throw, junior guard Carly Martin responded with a 3 amid a 14-2 run stretching into the second half for Palo Alto.

The Bears continued shooting haplessly in the third quarter, converting just 2 of 13 from the field.

“We definitely felt some pressure but it’s just been drilled into us, you just have to keep going,” Faberowski said. “It doesn’t matter how many shots you miss, it doesn’t matter how many mistakes you make. You have to keep trying, you have to keep going, you have to win this.”

Then the Bears’ defense found another gear. Palo Alto committed 15 turnovers in the game, but five of those came in the fourth quarter.

“The press was the key,” Yob said. “I thought we should have done that sooner. We just had to cause some havoc, and that allowed us to get some easy baskets and didn’t have to face the zone. … When we were being the aggressor, it was much better for us.”

With M-A trailing 29-17 after three, Chai busted the team’s slump with a 3 from the top of the key. It was just the second 3 of the night for the Bears. Then after junior Malia Latu hit a baseline floater, Lindblom powered up with a 3 from the corner, cutting the deficit to 29-25 with 3:40 to play.

Palo Alto continued to struggle bringing the ball up the court. The Vikings took just seven shots in the final period, converting only one. That shot didn’t come until M-A tied it, after Yeh dropped an underhand layup and Latu followed with a drive to the hoop to catch the Vikings at 29-29.

Turgut responded by scoring a layup off a baseline inbound with a minute to play. But Lindblom fired back to tie it 31-31, and Faberowski followed with her second steal of the contest to set the stage for her immortal moment — capped by the unlikeliest heroine standing at center court, throwing her hands in the air with two 3-point signs to go with an electric smile.

“Usually I throw up one,” Faberowski said. “And this time I was like: You know what? I hit the game-winner, I’m going to throw up two this time. You’ve got to celebrate when you do stuff like that. It’s exciting.”

The M-A magic carried over into Sunday’s CIF Northern California tournament seeding meeting. The Bears drew the No. 1 seed in Division III and will host No. 16 Lick-Wilmerding-San Francisco Tuesday at 6 p.m.