Warriors lose first-round girls basketball state playoff

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

On the floor, Fallbrook High School’s girls basketball team lost the Warriors’ first-round state playoff game against Shadow Hills High School of Indio in the fourth quarter of that March 1 competition. According to Fallbrook coach Trey Harrison, the Warriors began the state playoffs with a disadvantage due to their division assignment.

“I was really upset about our placement when it came to state playoffs,” Harrison said.

Fallbrook won the CIF San Diego Section Division II championship Feb. 25 by defeating Imperial High School. Imperial was placed in Division IV of the state playoffs and reached that division’s state championship game. “They moved us up to Division III,” Harrison said.

Del Norte was the CIF San Diego Section Division I champion. The Nighthawks were given the 15th seed in the Division II state playoffs Southern California bracket. The other three San Diego Section Division I semifinalists – Scripps Ranch, Carlsbad, and Rancho Bernardo – were placed in the Division III state playoffs. Fallbrook was seeded 10th among the Division III Southern California teams.

“They gave us a bad seeding and in a bad division,” Harrison said.

As the 10th seed, Fallbrook traveled to seventh-seeded Shadow Hills even though Fallbrook was a section champion. “You usually get a home game no matter what,” Harrison said. “We had a 2 1/2-hour trip to Indio.”

During each of the first three quarters, the Warriors outscored Shadow Hills. “We had the right game plan. Everything worked in that game,” Harrison said.

The Warriors had leads of 9-7 after one period, 25-19 at halftime, and 36-28 after the third quarter. “The game was close up until the fourth quarter,” Harrison said.

Basketball often involves runs of points, and a 22-8 Shadow Hills advantage in the final period resulted in a 50-44 Knights victory. “They came out in the fourth quarter,” Harrison said.

The Knights made seven three-point shots during the game. Fallbrook had a three-point lead midway in the fourth quarter. “They came out and hit two more threes,” Harrison said. “The tide was turning for them at that point.”

The Shadow Hills lead increased. “Nothing we were doing worked, and they pulled away,” Harrison said.

“We were just deflated at that point,” Harrison said. “If we would have stayed focused we would have won the game.”

Shadow Hills senior Sonia Urbina was the game’s leading scorer with 18 points, including five three-pointers. Fallbrook senior Naiya Kurnik closed out her high school career with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Six members of the Warriors are seniors. Elley Ahrend had seven points and seven rebounds to close out her high school career while Juliana Blas provided three points and three rebounds.

“We definitely did everything we could that game, and we just fell a little short,” Harrison said. “We hurt ourselves that game, and it happens. We just picked the wrong time.”

The loss ended Fallbrook’s 19-game winning streak and gave the Warriors a final season record of 24-7.