Once third-seeded East Union took an early lead from visiting No. 11 West Park on Thursday, the Lancers never trailed in a 64-53 second-round Sac-Joaquin Section Division III girls quarterfinal playoff contest at Dalben Center.
The win gives East Union (24-5) a berth in the California Interscholastic Federation Northern Regional Championships, and Lancers coach Jim Agostini knew he would have his hands full clinching that berth. The Panthers (14-14) went on the road Tuesday and handled No. 6 Lathrop, 59-47.
“If you are a team that can go on the road and win a playoff game, you have accomplished something already,” Agostini said. “You have to honor whatever they did Tuesday night at Lathrop and be ready to play because, they have already won on the road and that’s not an easy thing to do.
“It was just a good round-two playoff basketball game. I thought my team really executed well down the stretch again.”
East Union made 6 of 8 free throws in the final 90 seconds.
“Every basketball team shoots free throws every day,” Agostini said. “We do it and we are getting better at it.”
Taylor Snaer directed the offense for the Lancers, pouring in 27 points while scoring four of those eight free throws down the stretch.
“We got the win,” Snaer said. “Obviously, they didn’t want to lose. They had just won on the road and probably came into this game thinking that since they had already won one on the road they might be able to do it again.
“We pushed it in the beginning a little. They had a little run but we were able to get our rebounds and play better defense while hitting our shots.”
With Snaer patrolling the perimeter, teammate Donnese Payne was absolutely owning the paint with 19 rebounds and 10 points along with five steals.
“We practiced new rebounding techniques in practice,” Payne said. “I was able to maneuver out there, and I would jump as high as I could and grab the ball.”
Nylah Dyson supported Snaer on the outside with 17 points.
“It was a really tough game,” Dyson said. “Both teams played really well, we just came out and played harder. It took a lot of team effort.
“I am really proud of Donnese (Payne) with her rebounding, Taylor (Snaer) pushing the ball and Ava (Barrera) getting to the ball and staying strong.”
Barrera (six points) helped set the defensive tone for East Union with six of her nine rebounds in the first quarter along with five steals and four first-half blocks.
“I think those blocks kind of gave energy to our team,” Barrera said. “It got us going.”
Although the Lancers have technically won two playoff games so far, Agostini thinks his team has had five playoff-caliber games.
“We had played five playoff games already this year,” Agostini said. “We had one Tuesday night, but our four games against Manteca twice and Kimball twice were like playoff games. For us to get this second-round home game, we had to do well in those four games and we did that, winning three out of four.
“And those prepared us for this game.”
East Union will have to be really prepared Tuesday night when the Lancers travel to Lincoln to take on the No. 2 Fighting Zebras (26-3) in a semifinal contest at 7 p.m.
