SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA REGIONAL BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS : DIVISION III GIRLS : Newbury Park Bounced but Bounces Back

NEWBURY PARK — There’s winning ugly and then there is winning the way the Newbury Park High basketball team did Thursday night--by any means possible.

The Panthers sank seven of nine free throws in the final 70 seconds and survived Bishop Montgomery’s fourth-quarter rally, 47-39, in a regional semifinal in front of a capacity crowd.

Newbury Park (30-1), the state’s top-ranked team in the division which has won 25 consecutive games, will face Santana in the championship game Saturday at The Pond of Anaheim at 9 a.m.

The Panthers beat Bishop Montgomery, 60-50, last Saturday in the Southern Section Division III-AA final, but the Knights who showed up in Newbury Park five days later had grown much more physical.

Bishop Montgomery’s scrappy, rough-and-tumble style of play seemed to force the Panthers out of their game in the second half.

Newbury Park senior center Kara McKeown ended up on the floor at least a half-dozen times as a result of the Knights’ physical play.

“I think this time it was a little more physical because they came out and really wanted to beat us,” said McKeown, who was inadvertently kicked in the temple by Bishop Montgomery’s Tiffany Washington during a scramble for a loose ball.

MeKeown got bounced around all night, but pulled down 15 rebounds anyway.

“The refs didn’t call too much (tonight) and it was frustrating, but the farther along you go in the playoffs, the more the refs let you play,” McKeown said.

The Panthers led by as many 14 points in the third quarter, but Bishop Montgomery kept chipping away at the lead until Jenica Hirata banked in a three-point basket from the wing to make it 42-39 with 1 minutes 3 seconds remaining.

But the Panthers maintained their composure and made their free throws when it counted most.

“Our experience showed in the last three or four minutes,” Newbury Park Coach Nori Parvin said.

The same couldn’t be said however, for the opening minutes.

Newbury Park struggled after securing the opening tipoff, committing turnovers on its first three possessions.

The Panthers couldn’t manage a point until Jann Thorpe hit a free throw almost four minutes into the game.

The lead changed hands five times before the Panthers took control midway through the second quarter.

Fueled by Thorpe’s eight second-quarter points, Newbury Park closed out the half with a 12-2 run for a 20-12 halftime lead.

The Panthers extended their lead to 10 on Julie Wastell’s layup to open the second half, but Bishop Montgomery (25-6) would not go away.

Wastell finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds and Thorpe added 16 points.