Casa Grande wins a girls basketball thriller over rival Petaluma

Upstart Casa Grande continued a late-season surge in girls basketball as the Gauchos evened the season series against rival Petaluma with an upset 44-42 win at the Big House on Wednesday.

Taking the floor with a combination of reserves from last season and a sprinkling of younger players, the Gauchos won their third game in a row by combining great energy with enough solid play to hand the Vine Valley Athletic League leaders a loss in thrilling fashion.

Junior AJ Harris drained two free throws with less than five seconds to go to seal the verdict for coach Scott Himes and his rapidly improving Casa club.

The Gauchos led Petaluma from the opening period until junior guard Mallory O'Keefe of the Trojans connected on a long clutch 3-point shot to knot things up at 42-42.

The only thing missing in this one was wild screaming student sections on both sides of the gym. They would have enjoyed the exciting finish provided by both teams. Next season without pandemic restrictions, things will be different. In the meantime the game was still exciting.

As a result of the surprising outcome, the Trojans slipped a notch in the VVAL standings and everything will be on the line on June 2 in the Trojan Gym when Petaluma hosts co-leader American Canyon. It was the intention of VVAL officials that this season would be unofficial, but it is hard to ignore two teams pounding down the stretch tied in first place with only one game to play. To be sure, Petaluma Coach Sophia Bihn and the seniors on her team know that it is an important game.

Casa Grande beat both co-leaders back-to-back, notching a 43-40 win over American Canyon last week. The Gauchos are now 4-6 on the season, while Petaluma stands 10-2 on the season and matches American Canyon at 6-2 against VVAL teams.

Casa Grande grimly held on to a 23-21 halftime advantage, and the Gauchos led by as many as eight points paced by the determined play of point guard Mazin Dahmani. Dahmani turned on the jets in the second half, with several key driving baskets in addition to hounding O’Keefe and forcing the Petaluma point guard to work for every inch of the floor. One Dahmani shot was a dagger to slow down a Petaluma resurgence in the late going.

Petaluma crawled back into the game with continued hustle on the boards provided by senior center Rose Nevin. She is leading the VVAL in rebounds with an amazing average of 13.4. Everything seemed to find her hands this time out as well which gave Trojan shooters more opportunities to score.

Taylor Iacopi, who has been struggling with her shooting this season, found the range with a couple of shots from distance and Petaluma closed the gap to four points on two occasions.

Two free throws by Iacopi and the big shot by O’Keefe brought the visiting Trojan fans to their feet when the games was tied at 42-42.

Rather than go into overtime to salvage the win, the Gauchos rushed the ball up the floor where a foul was called on a reach-in. If there was any doubt that Harris would tighten up on the free throw she dashed those Petaluma hopes with a shot that barely tickled the twines. Her second shot was good as well, and the Casa bench along with coaches Himes and Rick Bilial basked in a victory celebration.

Harris finished the game with 16 points to pace the Gauchos while Dahmani added 11, all in the second half. O’Keefe had 13 points for the Trojans, while Nevin tossed in 11. Iacopi knocked in 13 points in her best offensive outing of the season.

“That is how we have been playing all our games,” explained Bihn. “At times we have had only seven players, and we finished one game with only four.” Seven girls were in uniform for Petaluma.

Six girls scored for the Gauchos, including a string of six points by freshman Anamaria Robertson that helped Casa maintain the lead.

Casa ran a weave movement at the top of the key with enough patience to shake a player loose for a good look at the basket when the Trojans tired.

“Rose Nevin is the best player in our league, and we should recognize that in some way,” said Himes. “Our game plan was to double on her, and our girls executed the plan very well. I was very happy with our team because they (the Trojans) have the best players in the league. That O’Keefe is a gamer.”

Everything in the VVAL will be settled on June 2 when the top two teams in the league meet on the Trojan floor..