RIVERSIDE — Sometimes the best things in life are worth waiting for.
Hillcrest girls basketball coach Chloe Wells would have preferred to see her team close things out in regulation Thursday night. That wasn’t meant to be, but Zoey Boulware’s steal and three-point play late in overtime gave the Trojans a 56-54 win over San Diego Crawford in a CIF State Division V regional quarterfinal game.
The No. 3-seeded Trojans (23-6) will host Santa Ana in Saturday’s regional semifinal, a rematch of last weekend’s CIF Southern Section Division 5AA championship. Hillcrest has won 15 straight games and is 7-2 this season in games decided by five points or less, including a 39-36 victory over Santa Ana in last week’s title game.
Boulware finished with 23 points for Hillcrest, while Amaya Branchcomb added 13 points. Crawford (19-15) got 21 points from Fatuma Abdi in the loss.
“I saw something in these girls that nobody saw in them and they’ve had to learn on the fly, but they’ve learned their lessons quickly and here we are,” said Wells, who is in her first season leading the program. “I’ve won titles as a player, but it’s so much more gratifying as a coach to see them succeed like they are.”
Hillcrest jumped out to an early 11-5 lead as Za’Nylah Jackson converted a three-point play with 3:10 left in the first quarter. Crawford closed on an 8-3 run and trailed by one after a quarter following Samitioata Fidow’s jumper with 10 seconds left.
Boulware’s putback with 2 minutes left in the second quarter tied the game at 20 but Abdi made a 3-pointer with a minute left until halftime that gave the Colts a 25-21 lead.
“I knew that it wasn’t over until there were zero’s on that scoreboard, and we came together to keep this season going,” Boulware said. “It’s been incredible to see the throughout this run, because it means they believe in us like we believe in each other.”
Abdi scored four of Crawford’s last six points in the third quarter to give the visitors a 33-30 lead with 17.9 seconds left. However, Branchcomb connected on a 3-pointer from the left wing to tie the score at 33 heading into the fourth quarter.
“I’ve been practicing those shots throughout the year,” Branchcomb said. “So to see it go down in that moment felt good. and we’re just so excited to advance when not a lot of folks thought we could do this other than the people in our locker room.
Fidow made a jumper with 6:28 left to tie the game at 37. However, the Trojans went on a 9-2 run to go up 46-39 with 3:25 left after a steal and layup from Ryan Maffori-Mazzolini. Raylene Valadez also connected on a stepback 3-pointer in that run.
Aisha Hassan made a jump shot while Abdi converted a pair of free throws in the final minute as Crawford forced overtime.
Down 53-47 with 1:44 left after a layup by Hassan layup, Hillcrest came up big in crunch time. Branchcomb made another 3-pointer, and Boulware scored five of the final six points in a 20-second span to give Hillcrest a lead. After a free-throw by Daisy Ingram, Abdi missed a potential game-tying shot as time expired.
