From LBPOSTSports.com: “That was horrendous, wasn’t it?” said Poly coach Carl Buggs when approached after his team’s 67-54 win over Colony in the CIF Regional State Championship. Well…yeah, it kind of was. After jumping out to an 11-2 lead to start the game, Poly spent much of the rest of the first three quarters seemingly trying to give it away. We’re talking 24 turnovers in the first half, with 16 of Colony’s 25 first-half points coming off of those opportunities. In the end, good guard penetration and a final run in the fourth quarter proved enough, giving Poly another state regional championship and, more importantly, a berth into their fourth-straight state championship game next Saturday.
After the hot start, due to Brittany Wilson (who began the game with a flurry of offensive activity for the second time in three days) and an early jumper from the ever-strengthening Kelli Thompson, Poly let Colony back in, as the Titans ripped off seven straight, bringing the score to 13-11 after one. More turnovers in the second quarter, coupled with a 1/7 effort from beyond the arc, meant just eight points for Poly, while the Titans dropped fourteen, with Te’onna Campbell and Camille Buckley getting good inside looks. At halftime, Poly was down four, 25-21.
The reason the game was so close despite the turnovers and poor shooting was that the only thing Poly did more than turn the ball over…was take the ball back from the Titans. With fifteen team steals (they finished with 28), and 25 total takeaways, Poly kept Colony from running away with it. (By the way, if you’re doing the math, yes, that was 49 total turnovers in the first 16 minutes of basketball, a rate of more than one turnover every twenty seconds—this is probably why Buggs started the postgame press conference by apologizing to the city of Long Beach, his teams fans, and his school for how ugly the game was.)
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