“That was horrendous, wasn’t it?” said Poly coach Carl Buggs when approached after his team’s 67-54 win over Colony in the CIF Regional State Championship.  Well…yeah, it kind of was.  After jumping out to an 11-2 lead to start the game, Poly spent much of the rest of the first three quarters seemingly trying to give it away.  We’re talking 24 turnovers in the first half, with 16 of Colony’s 25 first-half points coming off of those opportunities.  In the end, good guard penetration and a final run in the fourth quarter proved enough, giving Poly another state regional championship and, more importantly, a berth into their fourth-straight state championship game next Saturday.

After the hot start, due to Brittany Wilson (who began the game with a flurry of offensive activity for the second time in three days) and an early jumper from the ever-strengthening Kelli Thompson, Poly let Colony back in, as the Titans ripped off seven straight, bringing the score to 13-11 after one.  More turnovers in the second quarter, coupled with a 1/7 effort from beyond the arc, meant just eight points for Poly, while the Titans dropped fourteen, with Te’onna Campbell and Camille Buckley getting good inside looks.  At halftime, Poly was down four, 25-21.

The reason the game was so close despite the turnovers and poor shooting was that the only thing Poly did more than turn the ball over…was take the ball back from the Titans.  With fifteen team steals (they finished with 28), and 25 total takeaways, Poly kept Colony from running away with it.  (By the way, if you’re doing the math, yes, that was 49 total turnovers in the first 16 minutes of basketball, a rate of more than one turnover every twenty seconds—this is probably why Buggs started the postgame press conference by apologizing to the city of Long Beach, his teams fans, and his school for how ugly the game was.)

Asked during the press conference whether a slippery ball was perhaps responsible for both teams coughing it up so much, Monique Oliver (who finished with seven points and six rebounds, below her postseason average) responded, “No, it’s us.  We don’t need to blame the ball,” before teammate Brittany Wilson interjected, “Yeah, but that ball was too bouncy.  They needed to let some air out of it.” 

“Good thing we were better at taking the ball away than we were at giving it back,” said Buggs.  And it’s true—Poly’s 25 takeaways kept them in the game, even if they weren’t able to capitalize on the scoreboard, netting just nine points off turnovers.  That was probably the biggest difference in a third quarter which Poly won 22-15—the ‘Rabbits got 14 points of that off of ten Colony turnovers.  They also stopped launching three’s in the second half, attempting just two—instead they worked the inside game, either dumping to one of their bigs (Oliver, Ta’Nitra Byrd, and Thaddesia Southall combined for 24 points), or with good penetration from Ariya-Crook Williams and Brittany Williams (who each scored 16 to tie for the most in the game). 

Thanks to the converted points and quality shot selection, Poly took a three-point lead into the fourth quarter, and seemed about to pull away, after closing the third quarter on a 6-0 run to take the lead.  Colony scored fast, taking the lead at 44-43, but then Poly took control when Thompson nailed a deep three to give the ‘Rabbits a lead they never relinquished.  Wilson attacked well, getting a crucial and-one, and Byrd stepped up, with six points down the stretch.  Crook-Williams was clutch from the free-throw line again, sinking 9/10 on the night and all her fourth-quarter attempts to close the game. 

The story of the game, from start to finish, was turnovers—in the end, Poly turned the ball over 38 times, and Colony 46, for a total of 84 turnovers in 32 minutes.  The difference was that in the second half, Poly turned the ball over 14 times to Colony’s 21, and used that advantage to outscore the Titans 46-29, mostly with free-throws and inside play.  A story about turnovers is never pretty, and it’s the second game in a row that Poly has won ugly, but what matters is that they’re moving on to attempt their historic, record-breaking fourth-straight state championship, against Monte Vista.  And, as Buggs said after the game, “An ugly win is better than an ugly loss.”

Stay tuned to LBPostSports throughout the week for previews and features, and of course we’ll have full coverage live from the championship in Sacramento this Saturday at 6pm.  Roadie, anyone?