Girls Basketball: Marin Catholic’s NorCal run ends in shocking upset

In a game in which they never trailed until the final 90 seconds, the top-seeded Marin Catholic High girls were shocked by No. 4 Central of Fresno, 48-46, Saturday in the CIF Northern California semifinals.

MCAL Player of the Year Gracyn Lovette gave the Wildcats a 46-44 lead on a three-pointer with 1:05 remaining. With the score tied at 46, the Wildcats had a great chance to go back ahead when Lovette fed the ball to Madie Dayton under the basket but the ball slipped through Dayton’s hands out of bounds.

Central called timeout to set up a final play and called on 6-foot senior Talia Maxwell to take the final shot. As the Wildcats collapsed on the biggest player on the court, Maxwell spun to her left and nailed the game-winner with two seconds remaining.

“Once she had the ball she’s really hard to stop,” Marin Catholic coach Ashley Saia said of Maxwell. “Kudos to her and them.”

The Wildcats (28-6) had lost to Central (21-12) in the Lady Cat Invitational 48-41 on Dec. 2 but seemed to be on their way toward revenge in the NorCal semis.

Lovette led all scorers with 14 points. Cecily Hadd had 11 and Dayton added six.

Maxwell and Keytonna Ross led Central with 13 apiece.

MC scored the first three points of the fourth quarter for a 40-33 lead with 5:17. Saia called timeout to organize for the final the minutes but that moved seemed to backfire when Central responded with a 5-0 run.

When the Wildcats’ Izzy Mcfadden drilled a three-pointer for a 43-38 lead in front of the MC student section the home crowd erupted. There was only 3:08 left and the Wildcats seemingly had taken control.

But Maxwell had other plans, spearheading a 10-3 run including four points in the final 90 seconds.

The Wildcats were hoping for their first trip to the NorCall final since 2002. After earning MCAL and NCS titles in dominating fashion and carrying a 13-game win streak into the NorCal semifinal, the loss was devastating

“I’m so proud of them,” said Saia. “It was actually a fun year but I’m sad for them, for our seniors. We had a great opportunity and we didn’t get it done tonight.”