Desert Christian Academy overcomes scoreless third quarter to beat Coachella Valley
Still, the Conquerors were able to overcome a stretch that nearly led to the end of their season by rallying to a 55-42 win over Coachella Valley High School in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 3A playoffs.
The Conquerors trailed by five points entering the fourth quarter before outscoring the Arabs 23-5 in the final quarter with the home crowd of more than 700 rocking the tiny gym at Desert Christian Academy.
Senior guard Maddie Reedman scored nine fourth quarter points and senior forwards Hannah Shaver and Shekinah Brattrud each added five to help Desert Christian Academy rally.
'We have a resilient group,' Conquerors head coach Zach Devane said. 'We just stuck with our game plan, switched to the 2-3 zone and stuck to the process on offense.'
Desert Christian Academy (21-8) has now won 13 consecutive games, going back to Jan. 6, and will play at El Toro on Saturday.
Coachella Valley (17-7) finished its regular season second in the Desert Valley League.
The Conquerors overcame a big scoring night by Coachella Valley's Mariah Figueroa, who scored 26 of her game-high 34 points in the first half. Desert Christian Academy's aggressive zone held Figueroa to 4-of-20 shooting in the second half.
With 3:54 remaining, Brattrud, a senior guard, drained a 3 when teammate Damaris Figueroa, a junior, selflessly swatted the ball out to her on a rebound to give Desert Christian Academy its first lead in more than 11 minutes. The Conquerors' student section shot up with a roar and the team rode the energy of the crowd the rest of the way.
Desert Christian Academy outscored Coachella Valley 11-0 the rest of the way.
'There was a lot of energy here tonight,' Reedman said. 'It helped us really step it up when it mattered.'
Reedman led the Conquerors with 17 points, and she added a pair of rebounds and an assist and a steal. Shaver scored just five points but came up big with 18 rebounds and five assists.
'It won't show up on the score sheet,' Devane said, 'but Hannah was battling all night to create for her teammates. Our girls got open shots because of the attention she had on her.'
Figueroa scored 14 points and collected five rebounds and a pair of assists. Brattrud ended the night with 13 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
Andrew John covers sports for The Desert Sun and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at andrew.john@desertsun.com.
Girls' basketball
2AA: South Torrance 46, Shadow Hills 34
3A: Desert Christian Academy 55, Coachella Valley 42
3A: Poly at Twentynine Palms, 6 p.m.
3A: Palm Desert 47, Coastal Christian 34
4A: Nogales 33, La Quinta 31
5A: Desert Hot Springs 64, Excelsior Charter 26
Girls' basketball
3A: Desert Christian Academy at El Toro
3A: Temescal Canyon at Palm Desert
5A: Rosemead/Sacred Heart LA at Desert Hot Springs
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Desert Christian Academy rallies to beat Coachella Valley in CIF-SS
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