Zona Miller’s Buzzer-Beater Lifts SCHS Girls Basketball over Ventura, into Quarterfinals

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SAN CLEMENTE – Never count out the San Clemente girls basketball team in the fourth quarter.

After yet another fourth-quarter surge and the lead exchanging hands in the final 30 seconds, Zona Miller received the San Clemente inbounds pass with 1.7 seconds left, turned, dribbled once and pulled up for the game-winning, buzzer-beater to lift the Tritons over Ventura, 57-56, in a CIF-SS Division 2AA second-round game on Saturday, Feb. 11, at San Clemente High.

“I just got it, and I just turned and put it up there, because I knew there wasn’t much time left. I kind of just hoped it would go in,” Miller said with a grin.

Miller scored 10 of her 18 points in the fourth quarter, as San Clemente overcame a 10-point deficit in the final frame. Claire Pham, who tied the game with 30 seconds left off a screen on a straightaway 3-pointer, led the Tritons with 19 points.

“I knew she was going to make it,” Pham said of Miller’s shot. “We’ve been practicing it, and we knew.”

San Clemente now advances to the Division 2AA quarterfinals at Redondo Union on Wednesday, Feb. 15. It’s the Tritons’ first trip to the quarterfinals since their run to the CIF-SS Division 2A Final in 2020.

San Clemente dictated the early portions of the game by opening up with a full-court press that gave the first half an electric pace.

“We play better when we’re high energy, and when we’re creating chaos on the other end,” San Clemente coach Kerri Husbands said. “That’s how we have to play, so we have to find a way to create easy baskets.”

Ventura countered with their own press and outside shooting. While San Clemente led by as many as nine points, the Cougars nailed four 3-pointers in the second quarter to just gain the edge going into halftime, 32-31.

In the third quarter, it almost all unraveled for the Tritons. San Clemente hit the first and last basket of the quarter, but in between those shots, the Tritons couldn’t buy a bucket, as Ventura pushed out to a 13-point lead.

Kiley Quillin knocked down a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 10 points entering the fourth quarter, and the Tritons began to chip away. Quillin scored 14 points.

“We’re gritty. We have so much heart,” Husbands said. “Our defense has always carried us throughout the whole season. We can always fall back on defense. Our shooting, yeah we got a little cold there, but we were getting good shots. They just weren’t falling.”

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Pham and Miller alternated scores, including two 3-pointers from Miller, to cut the deficit to just two points midway through the final frame, and with 30 seconds remaining, Pham lasered in a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to tie the game, 54-54.

San Clemente then inexplicably fouled Ventura on the other end to put the Cougars at the line and fall behind by two points. In the final 20 seconds, the Tritons missed a potential go-ahead 3-point attempt, a potential tying put-back attempt and a potential tying lay-up.

However, after a made free throw by Ellie Anderson and Ventura pushing the rebound on the second free throw out of bounds, San Clemente got the ball under the basket with 1.7 seconds left, and Miller clutched up for the win.