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ANAHEIM, CA -
Summit entered their game on Friday with a top-10 state ranking and a
noticeable size advantage over their opponent Huntington Beach. So with 1:08
left in Summit’s CIF Southern Section Division 1A Championship game against
Huntington Beach and the game tied 51-51, the SkyHawks put the ball into the
hands of their best player --6-2 Oregon-bound center Jillian Alleyne.
However Alleyne didn’t get the ball on the inside. She
brought the ball up the court and went right to work, getting straight to the
basket for a layup and the foul.
The old fashioned three-point play gave Summit a 54-51 lead
and clinched their first CIF title with a 56-51 victory.
“What was going through my head was that we got to score.
Coach Duncan left it up to me to get the ball on the inbounds,” said Alleyne.
“I just used my speed and my length and I got to the basket and I got the
and-one. We went up and from there we never looked back.”
Getting the ball to Alleyne hadn’t been the easiest thing to
do for Summit (27-3) on Friday evening. In fact, she took it upon herself to
make the play, bringing the ball up court and getting to the hole for the
subsequent three point play.
“It wasn’t designed,” said Alleyne. “It was just basketball
knowledge.”
“That’s what makes her special. She can get up and down the
floor,” said Summit head coach Latrina Duncan. “She can handle it and you
wouldn’t think that she would, so bringing the ball up the floor, I think was a
surprise for them too.”
Huntington Beach (25-5) entered the game known to make it
rain from deep. The SkyHawks however took a page from the Oilers book and
tested their might from outside. They took more attempts from three point range
in the first half (15) than the Oliers did (13).
That wasn’t the game plan.
“At one point in the first half we were almost trying to
trade (three-point) baskets and that wasn’t what I had in my game plan for my
girls,” said Duncan. “We took too many three point shots than I would have liked
for us to. Often times I give my girls the green light to shoot but in this
particular situation I felt that we had more of an advantage inside and we
needed to take advantage of it.”
In the third quarter they pounded it inside. Alleyne, who
had just six points at halftime, had eight points and eight rebounds in the
third quarter alone as Summit opened up their largest lead of the game, 38-29.
The Oilers, who were making their first CIF finals appearance
since 1978, struggled from the outside the majority of the night, connecting on
just eight of 26 three-point attempts, but in the fourth quarter, they started
to connect leading to a late push.
Maya Kennedy came alive to hit two consecutive three point
baskets to tie the game, 44-44.
“I heard they could shoot the ball. I didn’t realize they
could shoot the ball,” said Duncan.
“We all spend hours and hours in the gym and just got hot in
this game a little too late in the end,” said Kennedy who finished with 14
points and knocked down four three-pointers.
The Oilers hitting from deep was nothing new to Alleyne who
played travel ball with Kennedy and Oilers’ point guard Kelsey Minato in middle
school.
“It was great. Maya’s always been a great shooter so it
wasn’t a surprise to see her knock down those shots. Kelsey’s always been a
great point guard,” said Alleyne. “To compete in a CIF game, I never thought
that it would happen because they live way in Orange County and I’m way in Fontana but it was a great experience.”
While Kennedy came on late, it was Minato who Summit had a
hard time trying to defend. She finished with a game high 24 points.
However, ultimately the size of the SkyHawks was just too
much for the Oilers to overcome. The Skyhawks owned the boards 48-29, and when
it wasn’t Alleyne down low, it was Brooklyn Jackson (10 points, eight rebounds)
and Adrianna Brodie (14 points).
“In the end too much height got us,” said Huntington Beach
head coach Russell McClurg. “We knew we were going in against a giant tonight.”
The biggest player on this night was Alleyne, who finished
with 17 points and 20 rebounds. Not only did she help lead Summit to their
first CIF title, she also accomplished another major goal.
Dog pile.
“I always told myself since I was a freshman that when I win
a championship that I’m going to dog pile on the floor and for my teammates to
just run and embrace me (and) for us to embrace each other it was just amazing,”
said Alleyne.
