Santa Ana caps rally with game-winning basket in final seconds for CIF State regional victory

Santa Ana Saints players and coaches after Tuesday’s home win. (PHOTOS: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

Three days after falling just short in the CIF Division 5AA final to Hillcrest, Santa Ana High School’s girls basketball team celebrated a 42-41 come-from-behind home victory over Lindsay Tuesday night on a basket in the final seconds in the opening round of the CIF State Division V regional.

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With her team trailing 41-40, Santa Ana Coach Dana Nguyen called timeout with 10.8 seconds left to set up what she hoped would be the winning play. After a couple fouls that stopped play, the Saints worked the ball inside to junior Ashley Mendoza, who calmly banked in the game winning shot with 3.3 seconds left.

After a timeout Lindsay attempted a shot near mid-court, but under heavy pressure, the shot fell short and the Saints players, coaches and fans began a massive celebration.

“That was a big basket at the end,” said Nguyen. “We just literally said, ‘whoever has it, attack the basket.’ We missed so many layups in the first half, we made the layup when it counted.

“We came out flat, real, real flat, maybe felt the pressure, I think everybody’s bodies are hurting and falling apart at this point. We just talked to them at halftime, there are a lot of seniors on this team, and we said, ‘this is either your last 16 minutes or we have to make a change so we can continue.’

“We thought if we were flat, we could come out and pressure the ball a little and try and get some easy baskets off some turnovers and it worked out in our favor. I wanted it so badly for the girls, we’re so happy the never ending season is still continuing, we’re just so thankful.”

Santa Ana, by virtue of the historic win, moves on to the second round Thursday at No. 2 seeded University Prep (17-8).

“This is the farthest we’ve ever been, it’s so exciting for the girls, the school, it’s been a Cinderella season for sure …. this is the first win we’ve had in the state tournament and it’s exciting,” Nguyen said.

Kalleigh Solis provided a big spark for Santa Ana with 16 points, all in the second half, to help Santa Ana (16-13) come back from a 20-9 halftime deficit. Lindsay led 12-5 after one quarter.

Mendoza was one of the Saints scoring leaders with eight points.

“I felt like it was my turn to do it and I just did it,” Mendoza said of her first game-winning basket. “I get very nervous because I think am I going to make it or am I not going to make it. But at the same time, I try and be confident with myself and hope for the best in the outcome. It was very nice because we were down by a lot and in the last half, we just pushed through it and we took the dub.”

Lindsay came out strong in the first half, led by Melanie Navarro, who led her team with 14 points and Melanie Millan, who finished with 12 points.

Santa Ana, which lost to Hillcrest 39-36 in Saturday’s CIF final, was again plagued by the same shooting problems it experienced in the final at Edison Saturday.

But the Saints hung around, then got going in the third quarter, tying the score 30-30 on a basket by Mendoza at the end of the quarter.

Santa Ana moved out to a 40-34 lead on a basket by Kimberly Perez with 2:11 remaining before Lindsay charged back and took the lead.

However, Santa Ana, inspired by a large and enthusiastic following of fans, was determined to advance onto round two.

Solis had 10 of the Saints points in the third quarter.

“She was a little tight in the first half,” Nguyen said. “She felt the pressure of needing to score all of our baskets and we just said, ‘you don’t need to carry us, just go out and play basketball and do what you do best and just play.’ I think she went out and started to take whatever the defense gave her, and wasn’t putting so much pressure on herself.

“I think she wanted to show that Saturday was just a fluke and she came out big in the second half.”

For video of the game winning shot, go to X (@ocsportszone)

—-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com