By Patrick McKinney
Exclusive To SoCalHoops

This game matched the top seeds from the Northern and Southern Divisions, Palisades entering with a 29-4 record and Mitty coming in undefeated with 30 wins. This was probably their biggest challenge of the season, but they found a way to hold off a determined Palisades squad 49-48.

Mitty had the following starters

Aimee Grzyb, 5’6 Jr G
Rometra Craig, 5’10 Jr G
Kristin Iwanaga, 5’5 So G
Kerri Nakamoto, 5’5 Sr G
Danielle Cotton, 6’1 Jr C

Palisades countered with this lineup

Leilani Estavan, 5’7 Sr G
April Freeney, 5’7 Jr G
Candy Mojica, 5’8 Jr F
Nicole Funn, 6’ Sr F
Willnett Crockett, 6’3 Fr C

Mitty controlled the tap and Craig (daughter of 49er great Roger Craig) opened the scoring. Funn answered for Palisades, and Freeney added another basket. Nakamoto came back to score and Craig put in a three to give Mitty a 7-4 lead. Funn scored off a steal and was fouled, but could not convert the three point play. Estavan scored on a three as the 30 second clock ran out. Palisades went to a press, but Mitty solved it as Grzyb on the press break. Craig would add another bucket as Mitty and Palisades wound up knotted at 11 after one.

The second began with a nice assist from Iwanaga to Cotton for Mitty. On the other end, Freeney hit a free throw and Mojica put back her miss on the second shot. Palisades got the ball back and went up 17-13 on three more free throws from Funn. After this outburst, Mitty went on a run of their own. Grzyb scored and then hit a pair of foul shots. Craig put in a couple more shots before Gryzb hit one more free throw to send Mitty to a 22-18 halftime lead.

Craig led Mitty with 11 at the half and Gryzyb added 7. Nicole Funn led Palisades with 8 points.

The third opened with Mitty’s Cotton hitting a two and Grzyb adding a three. Palisades responded with a couple of buckets inside by Crockett. Cotton hit a foul shot and Craig put in another basket. Itricia Ewells came in for Palisades to add a 3 and Estavan was fouled while shooting a three. She would convert all three shots, drawing Palisades to within one at 32-31. Mitty ended the quarter with Iwanaga hitting a free throw to put Mitty up by a basket.

The fourth quarter was tight the whole way and, although Mitty led by five at one point, they were never really able to get control. The teams went back and forth until Estavan tied it with a couple of free throws. Mitty then went on a run, expanding their lead to 47-42, but Palisades would come back. Crockett and Freeney hit shots to make the score 47-46. As Nakamoto drove in for Palisades with 22 seconds left, Ewells stole it and found Estavan, who put on a spin move to give Palisades the lead 48-47. Mitty got the ball back and Gryzyb found Domenica Curran on a nice dish inside to put Mitty ahead with six seconds to go. Instead of calling a timeout (inexplicably, Palisades had three full timeouts and a twenty), Palisades went ahead and was unable to get a good look at the basket and the game ended at 49-48.

Craig led all scorers for Mitty with 19 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 steals. Gryzyb added 14 and Nakamoto had 8 points and 8 rebounds. Palisades was led by 14 points and 15 boards from Funn while Estavan contributed 12.