Santana Girls Upset El Cajon Valley in Overtime

EL CAJON —  In what seemed like an exaggerated fish story, Santana sophomore Cathy Bass sank two free throws about four minutes after time expired to send Friday night’s game against El Cajon Valley into overtime.

In addition, Bass made four of her teams’ six points in overtime to give No. 10 Santana an improbable and nearly unthinkable 54-49 victory over its Grossmont 2-A League rival, No. 8 El Cajon Valley.

“I don’t believe it,” El Cajon center Tanya Strong said.

It might take awhile for Santana to believe it as well . . . Bass’s free throws were only a fraction of the amazing finish.

After El Cajon guard Heather Holm (33 points) made two free throws with 13 seconds left, giving the Braves a 48-44 lead, Holm committed her fifth foul with four seconds left, and Santana’s Jenny Yoney (15 points) made her fifth and sixth free throws of the quarter to make it a two-point game.

After a timeout, El Cajon inbounded its ensuing possession, but the Braves were forced out of bounds near their own five-second line with two seconds left.

Erin Pope inbounded to Bass, who drove left and into the lane. Bass went up, was clearly fouled, but . . .

Did she beat the clock?

It took 3 1/2 minutes--an eternity it seemed--before the two officials emerged from a midcourt huddle and ruled that she had.

In the meantime, Santana Coach Wade Vickery wasn’t about to let Bass sit around thinking about things. Two years ago, Santana lost to Mt. Carmel, 56-55, in the Division I Section championship when Rebecca Aase missed a free throw with no time remaining. So while the officials held their miniconference, Bass took a couple of “practice” free throws before the officials took the ball away and ordered her to stop.

Bass (13 points) said the extra shots helped her relax. “I was scared,” she admitted.

Brave Coach Robert Holm, Heather’s father, has already been suspended once this season for an incident involving a disputed call. But to his credit, Holm managed to keep his cool. It was not easy, though, considering both the controversial call and the fact he was battling a fever of 102 degrees.

“It’s one of those things,” Holm said. “I’m kind of used to it by now.”

With county scoring leader Heather Holm on the bench during overtime, Santana dominated the three-minute period and handed the Braves (15-4, 2-1) their first loss by more than two points. Santana took sole possession of first place, improving to 15-5, 4-0.

“It was fairy tale,” Vickery said. “Everything we needed to happen for us to win happened.”