Kimball’s deadly accuracy from the perimeter trumped the inside dominance of Loretta Kakala and Manteca in this Sac-Joaquin Section Division III quarterfinal pitting Valley Oak League rivals Thursday at Winter Gym.
Brittney Hudson and Pearl Bautista combined to make 11 3-pointers, and the fifth-seeded Jaguars held off a late comeback charge from No. 4 Manteca to prevail, 71-67.
Kimball (23-6) has somehow brought the best out of Kakala in their three showdowns this season. In the rubber match, the 6-foot-3 Louisville signee, racked up 32 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks in her final game for VOL champion Manteca (17-11). She’s the first Manteca Unified student-athlete to be named a McDonald’s All-American.
Manteca guard Syd’Nee Fryer, bound for Southern Oregon, added 14 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and seven steals. Sophomore forward Kacy Bolding contributed with 10 points, four boards and three steals off the bench.
“She’s an All-American, it’s tough,” Kimball coach Mike Granillo said of Kakala. “We knew she was going to get her points and we knew Fryer was going to get her points. Our objective is to just do what we’ve been doing and everything will take care of itself. I have to give it to my girls, they came out and played as hard as they could.”
What Kimball does is move the ball well and bury open jumpers. Hudson paced the Jaguars with 26 points and accounted for six of the 3s. Bautista finished with 23 points, six rebounds and four assists. Fourth-year starter Donwanae Anthony, Kimball’s tallest starter at 5-8, had six points, 12 rebounds, eight assists and four steals. Her ability to draw the Manteca defense with dribble penetration was what helped open things up for the shooters.
“They came out in the first quarter and a half and shot the lights out,” Manteca coach Ryan Bono said. “We tried keying on their 3-point shooters, but tonight they ran the floor well and we left them open. We’d scramble in transition and we couldn’t find them. You give them all the credit in the world for knocking them down.”
Manteca struggled at the start as the visiting Jags raced to an 18-6 lead in the first quarter. Bautista and Hudson already had four 3s at this point.
Meanwhile, the Buffaloes missed their first six free throws and had 12 turnovers in the opening half, many of them unforced miscues. Poor free-throw shooting (17 for 36) and careless giveaways (20) haunted them in the end.
Kimball was ahead 35-24 at halftime, and the margin swelled to 19 at one point in the third after Bautista found Alexis Caringal-Holmes for an open layup with 5:21 left. That made it 44-25.
Fryer said she and the Buffaloes always felt that they were in the fight.
“I love my team,” she said. “This is the best team I’ve ever played with and we never give up. I thank for coach Bono for instilling in us to never give up and fight to the end and that’s what we did.”
Manteca managed to cut the deficit to single digits, 51-44, late in the third after Fryer hit two free throws and Kakala converted an easy lay-in thanks to a nice feed from Selena Lopez, capping a 9-0 run.
Hudson was later awarded three free throws while getting fouled on a 3-point attempt with 44.4 seconds to go in the period. She sank all three, and Kimball remained ahead going into the fourth, 54-44.
Freshman Jayda Jackson started scoring in the fourth with a 3, and Manteca cut the deficit to four on three occasions in the first six minutes but could not get any closer. Hudson banked in a 3 earlier in the period to help keep Kimball ahead, and Bautista canned the tandem’s final 3 of the game with 1:43 remaining to make it 65-58. Bautista then converted four straight free throws to put the game away in the final minute.
I’m proud of the way the girls played,” Bono said. “They played hard, they had no quit and battled all the way back, but when you battle from that far down it’s hard to keep your energy for that much time.”
Kimball faces No. 9 Christian Brothers (12-17) in the semifinals next Tuesday at Galt High. Christian Brothers stunned top-seeded Rio Linda, 56-51.
