The CIF abhors pitting teams in the same league against each other in the first round of the playoffs.
“It’s something we try our best to avoid,” said CIF San Diego Commissioner Joe Heinz
Sometimes, however, it’s unavoidable. Such was the case Wednesday, when Torrey Pines hosted North County Coastal League foe La Costa Canyon in the first round of the 16-team girls Division 1 basketball playoffs.
But after losing by 25 and 12 points, the third time was the charm as No. 13-seeded LCC upset No. 4-seeded Torrey Pines 61-51 in overtime.
It took a wild 3-point shot by Izzy Alexander of LCC to send the game into overtime tied at 46.
The Mavericks outscored Torrey Pines 13-4 in the fourth quarter and 15-5 in overtime to pull off the win.
“This is a special group, a special young group,” said LCC coach Malcolm Warfield. “We really wanted this game. We felt we played with them last game, but didn’t do the little things we needed to do.”We played with heart, and it took a big heart to take down a fantastic Torrey Pines team. Torrey Pines brought this game out of us. It’s a game we’ve been waiting for for a long time.”
Keani Brown led LCC with 27 points, 22 rebounds and four blocked shots. Izzy Alexander added 17 points and Kalin Pollard had 12.
Katie Tal led Torrey Pines (20-9) with 15 points. Lily Oliva added 14.
If the brackets hold true, LCC (14-15) will play Carlsbad, another league opponent, in Saturday’s quarterfinals.
Rancho Buena Buena Vista is the No. 1 seed and is in the same league and same side of the bracket.
Tied at 10 at the end of the first quarter, Torrey Pines opened the second quarter on a 12-2 run to take a 10-point lead.
LCC cut that to four with 2:40 left in the half, but a 4-0 to end the quarter had the Falcons up by eight at the break.
Brown scored the first five points of the third quarter to get LCC to within three, but Torrey Pines outscored the Mavericks 15-9 the rest of the quarter.
LCC again had it down to three on a Brown 3-pointer with 6:01 to play.
And it was a one-point Torrey Pines advantage with 3:02 to play on another Brown basket.
LCC outscored Torrey Pines 28-9 in the fourth quarter and overtime.
