Got a look at the tape of the game ...
The first foul in the last few seconds, on CN, was clearly a foul. The defender bumped the dribbler off line as she attacked the basket and took away her angle on the shot. Had to be called.
The last one was unclear. It was like a pass interference call, opposite the camera, but the ref was two feet away. It was a long pass down the right sideline from the baseline, and the foul was called at about the free-throw line extended. If the foul isn't called, the ball would have gone out of bounds because Valor Queen didn't catch it cleanly. So the question is whether the contact caused Queen to mishandle the ball or whether the contact was incidental.
It was almost impossible to judge from the camera angle, but again, the ref was in perfect position, and if anyone could see whether the contact impeded Queen's ability to catch the ball, it was him.
It seems like there have been a lot of last-second fouls lately, and two of them involved Cardinal Newman. On the boys' side, it cost them; on the girls' side, it saved them. The moral of the story, though, is that you shouldn't give high school refs a chance to blow the whistle and decide the game. Don't foul, and don't come close to fouling. In this case, had Queen caught the ball and driven to the hoop, it would have been a very tough shot. Tougher than making two free throws with the game on the line? Hard to say.
