What???? The demographics make it tough for Mitty to match up with nationally ranked teams??? Give me a fu**ing break.
I think im going to puke...🤢
Mitty v Etiwanda for the Open crown!
- Thread starter kiddman32
- Start date
I think im going to puke...🤢
Yeah I’m not a fan of the flopping either, and she did it a lot. But she was getting away with it and some of those were really phantom calls. IMO, she did what she had to do to get the W, as much as I hate it. Part of the game is adjusting to the refs, and she definitely took advantage of what they were giving her. Smith (#11) wasn’t flopping, but there were 2 plays in a row late in the game where it appeared she had committed an offensive foul and both went against Mitty. Still, had Mitty slowed the game down and ate more clock, I think they’d be State Open Champs.
I was rooting for Mitty also but those were legit fouls. No flops and the Etiwanda guard that went down early in the 3rd due to injury was huge and I thought it would swing it Mitty's way. The Etiwanda girl that fouled out in the final minutes was a big deal but not as much as the guard Cade that got hurt start of the 3rd. How do we keep overlooking that? Funny how it's a flop when it's not the team we want to win. I was going for Mitty and NorCal also but I gotta give it up to Etiwanda. As @ClayK said it came down to who can play basketball better down the stretch when attempting to run an offensive play gets negated by tough defense. We can make all the excuses we want but NorCal lost. Etiwanda played with 4 starters basically the entire second half and Mitty played with their 5 starters roughly the entire game game minus the few minutes Cheli was out when she got hurt. Of course Cheli getting hurt and missing some minutes makes a difference but you don't think Etiwanda starter Cade going down and missing the entire second half didn't impact Etiwanda? I guess we really view things through the lense we choose too and maybe that's why NorCal can't get over the hump in open division. I give props to both teams and see things without bias
let this be a story to be heard. the mighty mitty has lost to clovis west and eti both public schools when mitty had the superior team.
nor cal teams... dont make excuses, play with no fear and hit them in the mouth.
nor cal teams... dont make excuses, play with no fear and hit them in the mouth.
I don’t agree that Mitty played just with their starters. Sue was subbing liberally all game, to the point the people around me were commenting and laughing every time there was a substitution. It was becoming comical how many substitutions they made. It ended up not being a factor down the stretch, but the Etiwanda starters played more minutes than any Mitty player.
A flop is a flop, I’m not a Mitty homer, just a basketball fan hoping to see a good game. Like I said in a prior post, if the refs are giving you that call then you might as well keep exploiting it. Smart basketball. I just don’t like seeing flops, and would rather not see the refs encouraging them.
Yes Etiwanda and Clovis West are public schools but I don't believe for one minute some girls don't either get a transfer or move into the zones for basketball purposes. Of course there has to be talent that moves there but being Public makes it harder to get players because private school girls dont have to move if they don't want to. Although Etiwanda was talented with the starters Mitty had more talent when it comes to depth. Etiwanda having more experience in tough games I believe gave them the ability to go on that 12-3 run that helped them win the game. The reason the guards stayed on the ground is because they were always attacking full speed downhill and falling hurts when going downhill full speed. Plus it allows them to catch their wind. If the team most of us wants to win would do that we would be saying "that's smart, stay down and catch your breath." Plus Etiwanda play the entire second half without a key player(Cade) that got injured in the beginning of the third which put more load on players and they were tired. But I do agree that there are a lot of bias excuses here. Just like there were last year after Sierra Canyon won.
Two great teams and coaches gave us a great game. Mitty played 30 min of good basketball but the last 2 minutes or so cost them. In the end the higher ranked team, with higher ranked players, won the game in crunch time. Not sure where people are getting Mitty was the better or superior team. Etiwanda has been ranked higher than Mitty nationally all season long.
This is the same Etiwanda team that has split games with Sierra Canyon since Juju arrived. Last year Etiwanda beat SC in the section, earned the #1 seed in the SoCal state playoffs and then lost to SC in the SoCal championship. The flip of that scenario happened this year. Etiwanda lost to SC in the section playoffs and beat SC in the SoCal playoffs. However, unlike last year's state championship Mitty held their own and could've won the game. If anything it shows NorCal is closing the gap.
Also, let's not blame the refs. There was flopping both ways. Etiwanda fouled 19 times & Mitty 18. Etiwanda shot 21 free-throws and Mitty 22. Refs were either equally bad or good, depending on your bias. But they were consistent either way.
Most importantly, congrats Etiwanda! Incredible run! To go through La Jolla Country Day, Sierra Canyon and Mitty should earn a separate title by itself. That's a Nike TOC level playoff run. This should be the bigger story.
This is the same Etiwanda team that has split games with Sierra Canyon since Juju arrived. Last year Etiwanda beat SC in the section, earned the #1 seed in the SoCal state playoffs and then lost to SC in the SoCal championship. The flip of that scenario happened this year. Etiwanda lost to SC in the section playoffs and beat SC in the SoCal playoffs. However, unlike last year's state championship Mitty held their own and could've won the game. If anything it shows NorCal is closing the gap.
Also, let's not blame the refs. There was flopping both ways. Etiwanda fouled 19 times & Mitty 18. Etiwanda shot 21 free-throws and Mitty 22. Refs were either equally bad or good, depending on your bias. But they were consistent either way.
Most importantly, congrats Etiwanda! Incredible run! To go through La Jolla Country Day, Sierra Canyon and Mitty should earn a separate title by itself. That's a Nike TOC level playoff run. This should be the bigger story.
I didn't say Mitty played with just their starters. I said Mitty didn't lose a starter and the fact that they rotated was a strategy. Majesty Cade getting hurt and missing the entire second half for Etiwanda wasn't a strategy. It was an injury. Watch the game again. There was body on those fouls.
whomever didnt end their season atop the mountain, if they arent in the gym today getting the work in... they are making excuses.
Down 7 with under 2 minutes left, incredible 7-0 run by Etiwanda to tie it up when Mitty missed a few box outs, took quick shots instead of milking the clock, and turned the ball over. Mitty probably could had forced Etiwanda to foul if they had just held the ball a little longer in one or two of those possessions.
Yup. And Mitty shoots FT like Rick Barry did. They don’t miss many. Great game that made up for a somewhat lackluster overall state champ weekend IMO.
Mitty was 15/15 from the line, but then missed 2 late in the 4th quarter when things got tight. Cheli was I think 8-8, but missed one when she first came back, but I’ve got to think it affected her using her legs when she’s trying to favor that ankle after that nasty roll. Just a good game by 2 really good high school teams.
It was a wonderful game. But perhaps because Mitty has played very few close games this year, it did not execute down the stretch.
Etiwanda hit a bucket to cut MItty's lead to 5 with just over two minutes to play, Woliczko, the Mitty center, inexplicably tried to dribble coast-coast instead of just finding an open Cheli to bring the ball up. In her haste, she bounced it off her foot out of bounds. That cost them 25 seconds of clock and the ball.
After Etiwanda cut it to 3, Cheli took a fine, open shot in the lane, got her own rebound off the back rim and kicked it to a senior guard (whose name I don't know) in the corner with a 1:30 to go. Instead of running another 20+ seconds off the clock, she hesitated, dribbled just inside the arc and took an 18 footer that wasn't especially close.
Perhaps surprised by that shot, Mitty was not back on defense when Kennedy Smith threw a beautiful baseball outlet to Aaryn Finley. Mitty should have let Finley go and, at worst, kept the lead. Instead, they fouled Finley on her layup, resulting in an and-one to tie the game.
Each team then hit 3/4 free throws to maintain the tie. The fouls included a huge, phantom call against Maya Hernandez causing her disqualification. If Hernandez is in the game, she inbounds the ball after Etiwanda's free throws tie it with 40 secs left. With her out, Layla Woods was the inbounder. Against pressure, she did not run the baseline and tried to angle a very tough pass to Cheli which went directly out of bounds.
All was still not lost. Kennedy Smith missed a jumper with 25 seconds left, but Mitty failed to box out (foreshadowing). Smith kept it alive for a tie up, and Etiwanda retained possession. Smith's shot with five seconds to go rolled out, but again Mitty failed to box out. Etiwanda's put back at the buzzer won it.
Fabulous team. Fabulous season. Less than fabulous final two minutes.
Etiwanda hit a bucket to cut MItty's lead to 5 with just over two minutes to play, Woliczko, the Mitty center, inexplicably tried to dribble coast-coast instead of just finding an open Cheli to bring the ball up. In her haste, she bounced it off her foot out of bounds. That cost them 25 seconds of clock and the ball.
After Etiwanda cut it to 3, Cheli took a fine, open shot in the lane, got her own rebound off the back rim and kicked it to a senior guard (whose name I don't know) in the corner with a 1:30 to go. Instead of running another 20+ seconds off the clock, she hesitated, dribbled just inside the arc and took an 18 footer that wasn't especially close.
Perhaps surprised by that shot, Mitty was not back on defense when Kennedy Smith threw a beautiful baseball outlet to Aaryn Finley. Mitty should have let Finley go and, at worst, kept the lead. Instead, they fouled Finley on her layup, resulting in an and-one to tie the game.
Each team then hit 3/4 free throws to maintain the tie. The fouls included a huge, phantom call against Maya Hernandez causing her disqualification. If Hernandez is in the game, she inbounds the ball after Etiwanda's free throws tie it with 40 secs left. With her out, Layla Woods was the inbounder. Against pressure, she did not run the baseline and tried to angle a very tough pass to Cheli which went directly out of bounds.
All was still not lost. Kennedy Smith missed a jumper with 25 seconds left, but Mitty failed to box out (foreshadowing). Smith kept it alive for a tie up, and Etiwanda retained possession. Smith's shot with five seconds to go rolled out, but again Mitty failed to box out. Etiwanda's put back at the buzzer won it.
Fabulous team. Fabulous season. Less than fabulous final two minutes.
Honestly it never felt like Mitty was going to lose until that last putback. Mitty controlled the game I thought. Hernandez fouling out and thus not being in to inbound the ball on that turnover was not something i thought about until it was brought on this thread and its a GREAT point. So many what ifs in the last couple of minutes!
One thing going forward for Sue and Mitty is the days of state titles in anything less than the Open are pretty much done. The only chance for a state title is in the Open game going forward it appears and with the glut of EXTREMELY talented teams down south it will take a pretty special NorCal squad to get it done in the Open. Just look at Etiwanda, they will be loaded again next season and rumor has it the nations best freshman on Desert Vista AZ is transferring to Sierra Canyon.
One thing going forward for Sue and Mitty is the days of state titles in anything less than the Open are pretty much done. The only chance for a state title is in the Open game going forward it appears and with the glut of EXTREMELY talented teams down south it will take a pretty special NorCal squad to get it done in the Open. Just look at Etiwanda, they will be loaded again next season and rumor has it the nations best freshman on Desert Vista AZ is transferring to Sierra Canyon.
