High School Basketball

Posted by Pollon on February 28, 2009 at 21:40:12: The third time was the charm for the Harvard-Westlake girls basketball team. After losing to Windward of Los Angeles twice in the regular season, the Wolverines (20-9) came through with a lot more on the line in a 67-54 Division IV-A semifinal victory at Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks. Nicole Hung scored 26 points and Harvard-Westlake made 15 of 19 free throws in the fourth quarter. "We just willed oursleves to this win," Hung said. "We just wanted it. We haven't gone this far in a long time. Everyone played well." Harvard-Westlake was hot early leading 20-13 after one quarter as Hung, Nicole Nesbit and Skylar Tsutsui all made 3-pointers. Windward settled down and kept the deficit to nine points at halftime and then ended the third quarter on a 10-0 run to grab a two-point lead. 6'6 freshman forward Imani Stafford had two baskets and Jennifer Borderrud made two 3-pointers for the Wildcats (20-9) However, Harvard-Westlake didn't fold as it did in other games in the regular season. The Wolverines countered with a 17-6 run including several baskets by Hung and two huge 3-pointers from unlikely hero Janine Zelden. Zelden's second 3-pointer came with 2:44 remaining and gave the Wolverines a seven point lead. "I was sick all year and had food poisoning," Zelden said. "When I got better finally I wanted to help this team win." Zelden finished with 16 points including 10 in the final quarter. Zelden has been a bright spot the last two games for the Wolverines. She made four 3-pointers in Wednesdays quarterfinal game. "Janine has been one of our best shooters since freshman year," Hung said of her teammate. "We have always had confidence in her to shoot the ball. She has been proving it lately." Tsutsui had 10 points and Nesbit added nine for Harvard-Westlake. Stafford and Milica Toskovic each had 13 points and Simone Lutu had 11 for Windward, champions of the Olympic League. Stafford, the daughter of former USC star Pam McGee, had 17 rebounds and five bloked shots. "We got flustered thats for sure but we were able to compose oursleves when they made their run," Hung said. "We definitely matured tonight." Harvard-Westlake moves on to its first championship game appearance since 2001 next week against Pacific Hills of West Hollywood or JSerra of San Juan Capistrano. "I didn't tell the girls but I knew it was going to be hard to beat them three times," Windward coach Steve Smith said. Good luck against Pac Hills.