SAN JOSE — Aptos High head coach Stefan Hocom woke up with a 104-degree fever.
Sophomore center Rylee Mennie almost matched her coach, running a fever of 103 and missing the game.
Sophomore point guard Gabby Giuffre sat out a good portion with a back injury.
Sophomore forward Natalia Ackerman was in foul trouble all night.
And that’s the condensed list of Saturday’s shortcomings.
Almost everything that could have gone wrong for the No. 2-seeded Mariners did.
And top-seeded South San Francisco High, with enough heart and passion to make NBA great Kevin Garnett seem tame, took full advantage to dethrone the defending Central Coast Section Division III champs, 66-50, and win the program’s first-ever section title at Piedmont Hills High.
In a rematch of last year’s CCS D-III semifinal, S.S.F. (26-4) dominated the paint, the offensive glass and the final 16 minutes en route to its historic championship.
The Warriors had 22 points from shots in the key, and also had 22 second-chance points.
Aptos (25-4), which last season won its first section crown since 1983, also hurt itself by committing 19 turnovers.
The Warriors turned those giveaways into 16 points.
“They deserve it,” Hocom said. “They played really hard, they didn’t make many mistakes and they got inside on us. They had a good game plan and they executed. We had a game plan and it didn’t quite work out.”
Down 36-30 at the half, the Warriors outscored Aptos 17-8 in the third quarter behind their defense and trio of front-court monsters Jerlene Miller (5-foot-8), Becca Tasi (6-0) and Karizman Bergesen (5-9).
Miller had 17 points and 17 rebounds, Tasi added seven points and seven rebounds and Bergesen grabbed three big offensive boards down the stretch against the outsized and outnumbered Mariners, who sorely missed Mennie’s rebounding and 5-foot-10 frame off the bench when Ackerman picked up her fourth foul in the third.
“We have some big strong girls and they wanted to win so bad,” said S.S.F. head coach Paul Carion. “We just said, ‘everyone walks off this court with nothing left in the tank. Give everything you got.’ They just kept fighting.”
Known for its 3-point shooting, Aptos finished just 5-of-23 from beyond the arc and also struggled at the rim in the second half.
They shot 14-of-50 from the field.
Still the Mariners, who led by 10 in the first half, played well enough through three quarters to give themselves a chance to win. They trailed by three heading into the fourth, but scored only six points over the final eight minutes as their shooting woes continued.
It was Aptos’ first loss since Jan. 15.
“You can’t win every single game,” Hocom said. “It’s not normal. That’s what happened here tonight. Two spirited teams playing. One of them won and one of them didn’t.”
Ackerman scored a game-high 22 points and also had 11 rebounds and four blocks, but played only 20 minutes because of foul trouble.
Sophomore guard Hannah Hocom finished with 12 points, junior wing Abby Pardue added 10 and senior forward Abbi Saxton eclipsed 1,000 rebounds for her career with 11 boards.
The team’s lone senior, Saxton also had two blocks, two assists and two steals.
Giuffre exited with a non-contact back injury late in the first quarter and was visually hampered the rest of the way. She returned midway through the second, but contributed just six points and two assists.
“We were kind of on our heels the whole time trying to kind of make it up as we go,” Hocom said.
The Warriors were also hamstrung by injury.
Star 5-foot-9 senior point guard Brittney Cedeno, who is headed to NCAA Division I Cal State Baptist on scholarship, was in a boot and crutches after suffering an ankle injury in practice earlier in the week.
Without Cedeno, S.S.F. relied heavily on its bigs and 5-foot-3 freshman point guard Alex Salise.
In only her second start of the season, the crafty speedster made several clutch shots throughout the night, including a wild buzzer-beater to bring the Warriors within six at the intermission.
She also did a superb job of protecting the lead late, milking the seconds off the clock as the Mariners’ comeback fizzled.
“I put the ball in her hands and told her to win the game, and she did,” Carion said of Salise, who had 14 points, five assists and two steals. “Unbelievable.”
Aptos will have a few days to rest up before beginning what it hopes is a long run in the upcoming CIF Northern California Regional playoffs.
The Mariners received the No. 2 seed in the NorCal Division III bracket, and will host No. 15 Marin Catholic on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
At worst, Aptos will have home court advantage leading up to the regional championship game, if the Mariners do in fact advance that far.
Last season, Aptos lost in the first round of the NorCal tournament.
Hocom said he has faith in his team’s ability to bounce back from Saturday.
“Last year we were kind of physically beaten up in that game,” Hocom said. “That happened a little bit today, too… We’ll regroup. We feel good about state. I think we can do better than last season.”
