SANTA CLARA — A year ago, Mills gathered inside the lobby of the Santa Clara High gymnasium sad and dejected.
The Vikings endured an emotional loss to Notre Dame-San Jose in the Central Coast Section Division III finals in overtime that denied their hopes of winning back-to-back CCS championships in the wake of their head coach Dave Matsu dying just months earlier.
Motivated by the crushing defeat, Mills made it back to the CCS finals on Saturday and got its storybook ending.
In a rematch of last year’s CCS title game, Mills came back from a 10-point second half deficit to defeat Notre Dame-San Jose 51-50 at Santa Clara High to capture the school’s second CCS title in the last three years.
“Coming off of what happened last year, we wanted it bad,” Mills starting point guard Riley dela Fuente said. “This meant a lot, especially after losing our coach and not getting the job done last year.”
Mills guard Kelly Ho scored a team-high 14 points – 12 of which came on 3-pointers during Mills’ fourth quarter comeback. Sofia Kwan totaled 10 points, followed by Luna Mengel-Yoshimura with nine and dela Fuente with 4 points.
“I’m just so happy for those kids,” Mills coach and Dave’s son, Justin Matsu said. “They put in so much work each and every day. It hasn’t been easy this year and these kids just continue to come back and work.”
Radhi Garapaty and Rio Funatsu each had 12 points for Notre Dame and Arabella Valbuena added 10.
“I think Mills are just competitors,” Notre Dame coach Ali Bueno said. “They’re confident in their players just like us. When you have that mixture of defense and outside shooting, you can hang in any game.”
Holding a 18-15 lead coming out of the halftime break, Notre Dame looked dominant in the third quarter.
A stepback 3 from Valbuena capped off a 7-0 run and gave Notre Dame a 10-point lead 90 seconds into the period. While Mills clawed its way back, Notre Dame continued to hit 3s at will, seemingly putting the game just out of reach for the Vikings.
After making just one shot from beyond the arc in the first half, Notre Dame had three in the third quarter alone and went into the final quarter with a nine-point lead.
But Ho quickly made that comfortable lead for Notre Dame evaporate.
The junior Riordan transfer knocked in two quick 3s to open the fourth period and cut the Notre Dame lead to just three.
A 7-2 flurry from Notre Dame built the lead back up to eight midway through the quarter, but Ho’s third made 3 of the quarter on an inbound to the left corner kept Mills in striking distance.
With just over three minutes left, Notre Dame built its lead back to seven and looked to be pulling away once again.
But those gritty Vikings just didn’t quit.
Mills responded with a 9-0 run of its own that ended with a left-wing 3 from Ho at the 1:13 mark of the fourth quarter, giving Mills a 47-46 advantage – its first lead since the middle of the second quarter.
“It felt good to hit those shots, especially since I didn’t do much in the first half,” Ho said. “Everyone believed in me, telling me to keep shooting.”
Mills strung together its three best defensive series in the final minute of the game. The Vikings forced two misses and a turnover with 29 seconds left. Kwan and Mengel-Yoshimura knocked in two of Mills’ final four free throw attempts to ice the game.
Garapaty knocked in a buzzer-beating 3, but it was too late.
When the clock hit zeroes, Mills’ players and coaches couldn’t hold back their emotions.
An emotional dela Fuente cried tears of joy while Ho and other Mills players jumped with joy at halfcourt. Matsu slammed his fists on his coach’s chair and gave his coaching staff hugs as the moment sinked in.
While Matsu drew up the plays and gave words of encouragement, the fourth quarter surge came from the players.
“I think the comeback really just came from the players,” dela Fuente said. “We just talked about how it wasn’t over. It’s just about us players believing in each other and knowing how much we wanted this individually.”
By making the finals, both teams locked in their spots to the NorCal playoffs. Mills and Notre Dame will know where it will be placed after the CIF seeding meeting on Sunday.