Monster conquest for CdM

Barry Faulkner

Kate Heeschen is 5-foot-3 and barely 100 pounds. But Godzilla

could not have loomed larger for the Corona del Mar High girls

basketball team Tuesday night.

The junior guard scored four of the Sea Kings’ final five points,

including a breakaway layin after collecting a steal, that sealed a

51-48 triple-ovetime victory over Pacific Coast League host

University.

It was the second steal of the third overtime period for Heeschen,

whom CdM Coach terms the team’s Energizer Bunny. With University

trying to erase a 49-48 deficit, Heeschen anticipated a Trojan pass

from the wing to the top of the key and deflected the ball toward

midcourt. She chased down the loose ball and beat a defender to the

basket for the clinching field goal with seven seconds left.

Heeschen, who dived to the floor to make a steal that led to a

crucial layin by teammate Lauren Snell, giving the visitors a 39-36

lead with 1:59 left in regulation, tied Jackie McCoy with a team-high

six steals. She finished with nine points and, after accepting the

postgame congratulations of her teammates, had enough in reserve to

sprint across the gym to give her grandfather, Paul, a big

celebratory hug.

“I’m small, but I pride myself on my hustle,” Heeschen said.

“Since I’ve been here,” said first-year CdM Coach Jame Barkalow,

“I’ve tried to get our girls to be more aggressive. Even the

volleyball players I have are hesitant to dive on the floor for a

loose ball. But Kate has never been afraid. She loves to play so

much, she’ll do anything it takes to get the ball for our team. If

that means going through the biggest girl out there, she’s going to

do it.”

Heeschen, however, wasn’t the only player to come up big for CdM

(8-9, 3-0 in league), which protected its perch alone atop the PCL

standings.

Madison Otterbein, a 5-11 senior, had a team-high 14 points,

including an off-balance underhanded layup she banked in over her

head with three seconds left in the first overtime, and a free throw

with 54 ticks left in the final extra session to put CdM up, 49-48.

She also amassed a team-leading 14 rebounds, seven coming in

overtime, and also contributed in five blocked shots and three

steals.

McCoy, another senior, had the Sea Kings’ first bucket of overtime

and produced five of her 11 rebounds, as well as half of her six

steals, after regulation to help the visitors overcome 18.5%

field-goal shooting (5 of 27) in overtime.

CdM senior Kelliann Klein had 13 points, six rebounds and five

steals, while Snell, a junior, came off the bench to chip in six

points and was on the floor for all of overtime.

Spirited defense at both ends, typically man-to-man by CdM and a

zone for Uni, helped create woeful shooting nights for both teams.

Uni sank just 19 of 73 field-goal tries (26%), while CdM finished 21

of 80 from the field (26.3%). Uni had 30 turnovers to CdM’s 18.

Uni, however, found a hot hand in 5-8 junior Amanda Sutter, who

scored 14 of her game-high 18 points after the midway point of the

fourth quarter. She hit 7 of 8 field-goal tries, mostly from just

inside the foul line, during her red-hot stretch, before cooling off

in the final two overtime periods (1 for 5).

CdM, up, 26-15, at halftime, led the entire second half, before

Sutter drained a 12-footer with three seconds left in regulation to

make it 40-40 and force overtime.

Uni led twice in the first overtime, after not leading since 3-2,

but CdM persevered.

Another Sutter 12-footer with 1:03 left in the second overtime,

pulled the hosts even to force a third OT.

“Our girls played their hearts out,” Barkalow, 26, said. “If we’d

have wound up on the other side of this one, I would have said the

same thing. But I hope I never have another game like this one the

rest of my career. If I do, I’m going to have gray hair by the time

I’m 30.”

The win keeps the Sea Kings one game ahead of both Calvary Chapel

and Northwood, both of which won Tuesday to emerge from a four-way

tie for second. CdM visits Calvary Thursday, then hosts Northwood

Jan. 28.