The Tam girls’ varsity basketball won the Marin County Athletic League (MCAL) Championship on Saturday, February 20. The Hawks defeated Marin Catholic 44-43, becoming the first girls team from Tam to ever win MCAL’s and the last public school to win this century.
The game was tight the whole time. The first quarter resulted in a tie of 11-11, and the second quarter yielded nearly identical results however Marin Catholic edged out one extra point to put them up 23-22 at half.
Tam had an offensive surge in the third quarter scoring sixteen points and gaining the lead at 38-34. The final quarter was the lowest scoring of the game for both teams. Tam only scored six points however they held the Wildcats to only nine points allowing them to hold their lead till time ran out.
Every player on the Tam girls team recalls the last moments of the game to be the most memorable and intense. “[It] seemed like the longest 30 seconds of my life,” said junior point guard Katie Sowerby. “Each team turned the ball over at least twice, and both times we turned it over my heart dropped. But we got the ball back both times off a steal and then a defensive rebound on a last second shot attempt that could’ve gone either way.”
Junior Megan Lee had a game high 14 points off of only eleven shots including three three-pointers. She also had an extremely important defensive rebound after the last second shot by a Marin Catholic point guard. She was fouled immediately after and while she missed her bonus free throw it ended up not mattering. Free throws posed a major problem for the Hawks throughout the game making only one of seven among the entire team, contrasting Marin Catholic’s 12 points off only 17 attempts.
The last second shot attempt was a near make that would have given Marin Catholic the lead and likely the win. However it was senior Amari Allison’s lay up with two minutes left that proved to be the game winner. “I scored the last lay up of the game to make the score 44-43. For the last two minutes of the game no won on either team scored,” said Allison.
It was an emotional time for the Hawks when time ran out, especially for Allison. “When the buzzer went off and we won, couldn’t help but cry; I couldn’t believe it. Those last two minutes were the longest two minutes of my life.”