Foothill girls rally to stop Coronado in overtime

Brigitte Rigon picked the perfect time to ignore her coach on Monday.

The Foothill post, who hadn’t made a basket in her team’s game at Coronado, heard coach Keith Starr yelling at her to pull the ball out with just 15 seconds left in overtime.

Instead, she drove to the basket and hit the winning shot in the Falcons’ 33-32 victory over Coronado, one that moved Foothill (13-9, 5-5 Southeast) into sole possession of fourth place in the Southeast League.

“I saw an open gap,” said Rigon, who had just four points but added 12 rebounds. “My coach was yelling at me to pull it out. I was going to penetrate and try to dish it off. I was nervous, but it opened up for me.”

Coronado (12-10, 4-6) had a shot to win the game with two seconds left, but a 17-foot jumper missed. Rigon grabbed the rebound and ran out the clock.

“It was a great thing that Brigitte didn’t listen to me,” Starr said. “She concentrated on the glass the whole way.”

Foothill clawed its way back to force overtime. The Falcons trailed 10-1 after one quarter and 18-11 at the half, but Mercedes Starr hit three third-quarter 3-pointers, and Foothill held the Cougars to one fourth-quarter point.

The teams combined to make just 1 of 15 field goals and had eight turnovers in the fourth quarter.

“We let it get away,” Coronado coach Bill Crego said.

Mercedes Starr finished with 14 points for Foothill, which has a one-game lead over Coronado for the final playoff spot in the Southeast. Both teams have four league games left and have split their regular-season meetings.

“We knew we had to have this game if we want to go to the playoffs,” Rigon said. “If we win from now on out, we get to go.”