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Shamira Bidaye scored in the final 10 seconds of regulation to force overtime and senior Valentina Saric took over in overtime, leading Priory past Clovis 66-62 in the CIF Regional Division III girls basketball playoffs Tuesday night.
Clovis, which led by as many as 15, held a 50-44 advantage with just under five minutes to play before Priory (15-9) mounted a comeback. Sunishka Kartik hit a pair of free throws and Bianca Shi hit a key basket to set up Bidaye.
Priory scored the first four points of overtime and never trailed. Clovis West was within 61-60 when Saric hit a 3-pointer and then added two free throws. She also recorded four rebounds in the overtime period.
Saric scored 28 points, including a 6-of-11 effort from 3-point range. Bidaye added 13 points.
No. 7 Priory will play at home against No. 15 Evergreen Valley, which beat No. 2 Pleasant Valley 57-48, at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Evergreen Valley’s only losses have been to Los Gatos by one point and Homestead by 10. The Cougars (22-2) had a game with St. Francis cancelled early in the season.
While Priory won the Central Coast Section Division V title, Evergreen Valley reached the semifinals of Division I.
In Division II, Menlo School topped Alhambra 37-28, pulling away after leading 15-12 at halftime.
No. 3 seed Menlo will host Caruthers, a 62-47 winner over Vista del Lago, at 6 p.m. Thursday.
The Knight shooters warmed up in the second half. Freshman Karen Xin’s steal and assist to junior Jordan Brooks pushed the Knights ahead 19-13 in the third.
Angelica Chou, also a freshman, took a pass from senior Sharon Nejad and converted on a three-point play with 2:17 left and senior Shannon Li added a basket with six seconds remaining in the third quarter for a 26-17 advantage.
Li finished the day with 12 points and five rebounds. Nejad posted 10 points, five rebounds and two blocks while Jazlin Chen grabbed five rebounds.
In Division I, No. 10 Palo Alto scored 24 points in the third quarter and drew within two points early in the fourth against No. 7 Cardinal Newman.
The Vikings (22-5) could never even the score in an eventual 58-46 setback in Santa Rosa.
Palo Alto fell behind 24-9 early in the second quarter and then trailed 29-15 at halftime.
The Vikings hit consecutive 3-pointers to open the second half after making just 2-of-10 in the first half. They were 6-of-7 overall from long range in the third.
Freshman Vienn Sheng made all four 3-pointers she took. Jessica Fiske and Nadia Brown also made 3-pointers as Palo Alto was within 43-41 of Cardinal Newman early in the fourth quarter.
Katherine Garr was 2-of-2 from long range in the first half.
Sheng scored 12 points to lead Paly while Fiske had eight points and 11 rebounds. Kaella Peters and Natalie Neumann also hit key baskets during the rally.
Sydney Stewart gave St. Francis a 55-53 lead with 3:40 remaining to play but host Laguna Creek came back to beat the Lancers 62-60 in another Division I game.
In Division IV, No. 14 Los Altos fell to No. 3 Branson 52-37 at Dominican College in San Rafael.
Tara Davari scored 10 points to lead the Eagles (17-10), who held a 12-9 lead early in the second quarter before Branson went on a 10-0 run and never looked back.
Abby Lui added eight points and Natalie Holm had seven.
By Rick Eymer
By Rick Eymer
By Rick Eymer