By Riley Segal
Staff Writer
The girls’ basketball team narrowly defeated Burroughs High School 45-43 on Saturday, February 22 in the second round of CIF-SS playoffs. The matchup was considered a home game for South Pas, but the two teams played at Blair High School due to Tiger Bingo. Despite a slow start in the first half of the game, the Tigers completed a comeback in the third quarter to beat the Burros and advance
to quarterfinals.
Burroughs immediately went on an 11-0 run during the first quarter. Junior Jade Lin gained the first points for the Tigers with a three-pointer. The Burros clung onto their lead of 22-18 in the first half.
South Pas entered the second half with a renewed resolve, and began to edge forward with baskets from senior Kristen Kafkaloff and juniors Jalynne Li and Juliana Tom. A successful shot from sophomore Tiffany Holmes finally put South Pas in the lead. The Burros eventually rose to being one point behind the Tigers at 44-43 in the final minute of the fourth quarter. As the Tigers attempted to run out the clock, Li was fouled with 11 seconds left. After Li sank one free throw, South Pas again tried to run out the time and the Tigers regained the ball off a rebound, but a Tiger player was called with traveling. One second was given back for the Burros to carry out a game-tying or winning play, and freshman Lauren Kafkaloff blocked the Burroughs shooter to end the game at 45-43.
Throughout their season, the Tigers have been strong in both league and preseason play with an 8-2 league record and 16-6 overall. During league play, South Pas fell only to La Cañada twice to clinch a second place standing.
“I’m so proud of how the girls have come together as a team. There has been tremendous growth from early in the preseason to late into league play,” coach Tammy Lai said. “Antelope Valley is a very solid team. We will need an all-out effort to compete and get the win.”
The Tigers’ next game is away against Antelope Valley today. The Antelopes placed first in the Golden League with a league record of 14-0 and overall record of 23-2.