GIRLS’ BASKETBALL SOUTHERN SECTION DIVISION I-A : Giordano, Buena Sink Thousand Oaks

Michelle Giordano sank two free throws with no time remaining to give Buena High a 44-43 upset of Thousand Oaks in the Southern Section Division I-A championship Saturday, avenging defeats to the Lancers in title games the previous two years.

With Thousand Oaks leading, 43-42, Giordano attempted a short jump shot and was fouled by Samantha Clarke as time expired.

Giordano, alone on the court, toed the foul line with the 1,500 fans at Loyola Marymount’s Gersten Pavilion watching her in nerve-racking anticipation.

What was Giordano thinking?

“That you better make them or everybody will hate you,” she said. “Everybody will kill you if you miss.

“I was just trying to calm myself down, just like in practice.”

After making both shots, Giordano, who had a team-high 19 points, found herself under a pile of jubilant teammates.

“You can’t see an athlete react any better under pressure than that,” said Buena Coach Joe Vaughan, whose Bulldogs improved to 23-2. “She’s out there in front of God and country. That’s not easy.”

Giordano’s foul shots negated a 23-point, 15-rebound performance by Thousand Oaks center Marion Jones, whose layup with 21 seconds left gave the Lancers (29-1) a one-point advantage.

Buena worked the ball down the court and freshman guard Kori Sebek launched a 16-foot jump shot from the left side with about six seconds to play. The shot missed and caromed directly to Thousand Oaks guard Alissa Corey. However, Corey couldn’t control the rebound and dribbled it out of bounds in the right corner with three seconds remaining.

Tammy Worley passed the ball to Giordano on the right side of the key. Guarded by Jones, Giordano faked left, then spun right and shot the ball in a crowd. The shot missed but Clarke was called for the foul.

Thousand Oaks trailed most of the game. The Lancers shot 26.8% from the field and made only 18 of 31 free throws.