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The Palo Alto and Lynbrook girls basketball teams went into Tuesday’s showdown with identical league records of 4-0, tied for first place. Though very different in composition, they demonstrated that they are very even in terms of ability.
Palo Alto’s 37-36 victory puts the Vikings in first place in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division standings.
“I look at it as holding serve,’’ Palo Alto coach Scott Peters said. “We still have to go down there.’’
Palo Alto (11-4, 5-0) had a decided size advantage, but didn’t dominate on the boards as much as Peters would have liked.
“They go hard to the boards, they’ll send four or five to the boards,’’ Peters said of Lynbrook. “I have a lot of respect for that team. They’re tough.’’
Likewise, Lynbrook coach Lynley Takaki expected her team to handle the ball better, to play without so many turnovers.
Not surprising that the result turned out to be an extremely close low-scoring affair.
Paly led 31-25 after three quarters. Lynbrook cut the lead to 31-30 before Carly Martin scored on a drive. Elif Turgut scored on a back-in move into the lane and then on another drive.
“Elif did a great job,’’ Peters said. “She hit the key basket.’’
Lydian Li made a pair of 3-pointers for Lynbrook, shaving Paly’s lead to 37-36 on the second one with 56 seconds left.
Both teams missed shots in the final minute with Paly gaining possession with 7.1 seconds to go. Lynbrook needed to foul — but had a problem with only two team fouls.
Lynbrook managed to foul Paly five times in 4.8 seconds to finally send a player to the free-throw line. The foul shot missed and Lynbrook rebounded, but time ran out before a potential game-winning shot could be taken.
There were only four free throws attempted in the game: Lynbrook went 2 of 3, Paly 0 for 1.
Martin led Paly with 13 points and 9 rebounds. Turgut scored 8 and had 7 rebounds. Li led Lynbrook (13-3, 4-1) with 10 points.