Troy Challenged, but Passes the Test Against Don Lugo

Since having his team’s perfect 27-0 mark spoiled in the second round of last year’s playoffs, Troy Coach Kevin Kiernan knew the Warriors would one day need to win a big game under adversity--in a hostile gym, against the best player on the court.

And Saturday the team that Kiernan called “soft” last summer showed its mettle before a standing-room-only crowd. Troy beat Chino Don Lugo, 61-54, in a Southern Section Division I-A quarterfinal behind a defensive whiz who wasn’t supposed to score, and a freshman who played scared for three quarters.

With its victory, Troy (26-3) will play Edison on Tuesday in a semifinal. The winner will play the winner of the San Clemente-Riverside North game. Don Lugo is 25-5.

The defensive wizardry came from Troy’s only senior starter, Katie Hardeman, who got in first-quarter foul trouble, but held Diana Taurasi to only four points in the fourth quarter.

Hardeman, whom Kiernan didn’t expect to score because of the defensive effort she would expend guarding Taurasi, scored 15 points.

Taurasi, who will attend Connecticut next season, scored a game-high 23 and finished her career with 3,047 points, one of only three players in section history to surpass 3,000 points.

“I knew I had to stop her,” Hardeman said. “I knew I had to be the one.”

Taurasimade two free throws with 40 seconds left to cut the deficit to 56-52. The final basket of her high school career, a driving eight-footer with six seconds to go, made it 60-54. In between, Veronica Johns-Richardson (21 points) and Alicia Komaki each made two free throws.

Troy extended its full-court pressure in the second half, outscoring the Conquistadores, 40-27, to overcome a six-point halftime deficit.

In the process, Troy made two critical runs, scoring eight of the first 10 points of the third quarter to tie the score at 29, and then making five consecutive shots in a 12-3 run in the fourth.

“That came out of nowhere,” Don Lugo Coach Larry Webster said of the run, which was keyed by freshman Amanda Livingston, who scored all eight of her points in the fourth quarter.

“It’s the biggest game I’ve ever had,” said Livingston, whose career high is 15 points. “I was totally nervous the first three quarters.”

She made three baskets, in the key, on a drive, and from 15 feet, and Johns-Richardson had two three-pointers as Troy seized control, 55-42, with 3:25 remaining.

“We were down for the first time in God knows when,” Kiernan said. “But we reacted to the adversity, bounced back, kept our poise, kept attacking. We didn’t back down.”

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In other Division I-A games:

Edison 47, Santa Barbara 41--Trailing by one at the half, Edison (21-8) outscored Santa Barbara, 15-8, in the decisive third quarter. Rachael Ziemann (20 points, 10 rebounds) and Michelle Zylstra (11 points, 14 rebounds) combined for 10 points in the quarter.

Riverside North 57, Mater Dei 48--Top-seeded North (25-3) defeated Mater Dei for the fifth consecutive time. With less than three minutes remaining, the Monarchs (22-8) trailed by two points, but North converted from the foul line, finishing 15 of 16. Maile Shimoda scored 14 points and Lindsay Pavlik had eight points and 13 rebounds for Mater Dei.

San Clemente 70, Cerritos 51--The fourth-seeded Tritons (26-3), down by as many as 15 points, took the lead midway through the third quarter. Whitney Jones scored 30 points and Kimberly Noble 16 to go with 11 rebounds.