APTOS — Three years ago, the Cabrillo College women’s basketball team had to call off its season because of low numbers.
Friday night, the Seahawks notched the program’s biggest win in recent memory — maybe ever.
“The girls are just playing great together,” said third-year head coach John Wilson.
That might be an understatement.
After blowing a 15-point lead in the second half, Cabrillo rallied in the fourth quarter to knock off the three-time defending Coast Conference South division champ, Foothill College, 63-56, and notch their seventh straight victory.
Wilson said he believes the upset win might be the Seahawks’ first-ever against Foothill (10-10, 1-1), which before Friday night had not lost a conference game since the 2013-14 season.
Cabrillo (12-2, 2-0) lost to Foothill by 39 and 25 points in their two meetings last season.
“I’m super excited and I’m just so proud of my team,” said Cabrillo freshman wing Pauli Pappas.
A bit under the weather from a migraine earlier in the day, Pappas shook off a rough shooting night in the fourth quarter and sparked the Seahawks’ down the stretch.
She scored eight of her 23 points in the final stanza, and converted a key three-point play to put Cabrillo up by five with 2:52 left.
The Seahawks played tough defense from there, and hung on to the advantage despite going 8-of-14 from the free-throw line over the final two minutes.
“When you think about playing a great team like that, we had a terrible third quarter and we didn’t make our foul shots but we still won,” Wilson said. “That just goes to show that these girls are talented.”
And that talent makes them a serious threat to capture the CC-S title after finishing in the bottom half of the conference in every year since the turn of the century.
“Every league win is a big one and we’re 2-0, so we can’t complain about that,” said Cabrillo sophomore point guard Lauren Lacy.
Lacy finished with 17 points, seven assists, four rebounds and two blocks, and sophomore forward Grace Giguiere added eight points and 14 rebounds.
Freshman guard Teal Maixner chipped in seven points, swishing a 3-pointer and a deep two in the second quarter to ignite Cabrillo’s 11-0 run at the end of the first half. Lacy’s crossover and layup and Giguiere’s transition bucket during the final seconds of the second frame gave the Seahawks a 35-20 lead at the break.
But Foothill did not go away easily.
The Owls’ offense finally awoke in the third quarter and took off on a 17-0 run.
With Cabrillo sitting back in its zone defense, Foothill fired away from deep, and thrice connected from 3-point land to tie the game at 35-all. Freshman forward Jasmine Spencer’s putback with 3:50 left in the third quarter gave the Owls their first advantage since the game’s opening bucket.
Cabrillo trailed 42-41 at the start of the fourth, and the lead changed hands four more times before the Seahawks finally took the lead for good.
Freshman forward Maddy Miller hit a jumper to tie it up, and Pappas drove the lane for a tough go-ahead layup with 3:22 left.
Her wild three-point play 30 seconds later and Cabrillo’s air-tight defense during the closing minutes sealed the deal.
“You got to hand it to Foothill, they stepped up and played great defense in that third quarter,” Wilson said. “We withstood their run and we did what we had to do to win.”
After the school was forced to fold the program in the weeks prior to the 2014-15 season, Wilson, a longtime fixture in the Santa Cruz County basketball scene from his days as a head coach at the high school level, stepped in to rebuild Cabrillo from the ground up.
The Seahawks went 9-14 in their first year under Wilson and notched a .500 record last season, going 12-12.
Blessed with local enthusiastic talent this season, Cabrillo is off to its best start in program history.
“We all get along really well. Our starting five, we all have different skills, but when we come together we complete each other,” Pappas said. “It’s super fun to play with them. Basketball has never really been this fun.”
Cabrillo will be back in action on Wednesday at home against Monterey Peninsula College at 7 p.m.
