GIRLS BASKETBALL: Mills Ousts Bearcats in Semis

The Score: Mills 44, San Mateo 38.

The Star: San Mateo High guard Candace Stephens was her team’s most consistent offensive force in a Peninsula Athletic League tournament semifinal at Burlingame High on Friday afternoon. The athletic junior scored a team-high 12 points, including two baskets in the final two minutes that pulled the Bearcats within five points.

The Turning Point: San Mateo, which never led, clawed back into the game when PAL Bay Division MVP Grayce Ujihara (11 points, all in the second half) capped a 6-0 run with a bank shot to cut Mills’ lead to 37-34 with just under four minutes left. But then Mills post Lexi Chierici, who led all scorers with 18 points, took a pass from Kristen Lastofka and rattled home a short-range shot to make it 39-34 with 3:27 remaining, and San Mateo couldn’t get closer than five points the rest of the way.

The Quote: “We wanted to play Mills. We thought that we were going to win. … We creep up, we creep up, and then they get a score. A lot of it is ... I don’t have an answer to it, actually.” – San Mateo coach Nancy Dinges, on the reasons her team lost to the Vikings for the third time season – each game by 10 points or less.

What’s Next? The Bearcats (14-11) await their placement in the Central Coast Section playoffs. San Mateo, a Division III regular, likely will begin the postseason on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Mills (17-7) will meet Terra Nova in the PAL tournament championship today at 6 p.m. at Burlingame High. Terra Nova beat Burlingame 73-50 in Friday’s later semifinal.

The Bottom Line: San Mateo appeared to be the PAL’s third-best team entering the league tournament … and that’s just where it will be when all is said and done. The Bearcats went 0-4 against PAL Bay champion Terra Nova and runner-up Mills during the league season. Bidding for its first appearance in the PAL tournament championship game since the latest incarnation of the league’s postseason affair began in 2000, San Mateo couldn’t quite make the game-changing plays down the stretch. Now the Bearcats turn their attention toward winning their first CCS game since 2008. They lost their opening game the last two years.

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Mills 44, San Mateo 38

SM – 6 11 9 12 – 38

M – 13 8 10 13 – 44

SM: Simon 3 0-0 6, Stephens 6 0-0 12, Ujihara 5 1-2 11, Okimura 1 0-0 2, Hafoka 1 0-0 2, Whipple 1 3-3 5. Totals: 17 4-5 38.

M: Lastofka 3 4-6 10, Sui 1 0-1 2, Del Bianco 2 0-0 4, Chin 2 2-2 6, Chierici 8 2-2 18, Arciaga 2 0-0 4. Totals: 18 8-11 44.

3-point goals: none.

Records: San Mateo 14-11. Mills 17-7.