Capital Gain
By MIKEY HIRANO CULROSS
RAFU SPORTS EDITOR
Friday, Mar. 14, 2008

Mira Costa’s storybook will have its final chapter at the State championship.

MIKEY HIRANO CULROSS/Rafu Shimpo
Mira Costa’s Kylie Nakamine drives past Ariel Marsh of Ayala, during the CIF SoCal Div. II Regional Final.

DOWNTOWN.–Mira Coast point guard Kylie Nakamine, who has been thrust into the playoff spotlight as a freshman, strolled around the Sports Arena in a pair of slip-on Vans sneakers, after her game Saturday. She complained of sore feet.

No kidding.

Nakamine spent a lot of time on her feet–nearly 40 minutes of official playing time, not counting timeouts and other stoppages–in the longest CIF Southern California Regional title game ever, but she was certainly happy with the outcome.

Her Mustangs have taken their improbable run as far as it can go, all the way to the CIF State Div. II Championship game Friday, March 14 in Sacramento. They earned their ticket by way of an exhausting, triple-overtime dogfight last Saturday, and a 72-64 win over favored Ayala.

“It’s crazy. As a freshman, I never expected to come here, to get this far and be here today. It’s been a great experience,” Nakamine said after the Mustangs outscored Ayala 8-0 in the third extra period. “It kept going and going, but we really wanted this.”

Mira Costa’s Mikah Maly-Karros scored 27 points with 25 rebounds and teammate Megan Richardson dropped in 25 for the Mustangs. Nakamine finished with eight points and three assists in the marathon, the first ever triple overtime regional final in any CIF division. The game also saw the most three-point shots ever and the highest combined score in a Div. II regional.

“This is our third overtime game in a row. It’s unbelievable, a true Cinderella story,” said Lisa Nakamine, Kylie’s mother.

Mira Costa (28-6) had a chance to end the game in the first overtime, after a Nakamine three-pointer gave them a 55-50 lead. But two missed free throws let Ayala climb back into a tie. The Bulldogs (29-6) took a lead in the second overtime, but with under a minute to play, Maly-Karros completed a three-point play to send the contest into a third extra frame.
Both teams were sluggish by that point, but Mira Costa held Ayala scoreless for the remainder of the contest.

Afterward, Richardson sang the praises of her team’s frosh guard, who has stepped up after upperclassmen fell to season-ending injuries.

“She didn’t play like a freshman,” Richardson said. “That’s the thing about her, she plays with so much poise and she might not be the most vocal person out there, but she leads us with her actions. She’s always in control with very few turnovers. To be out there, with all that pressure, bringing the ball up against a team like Ayala with two Pac-10 players, that’s just huge for us. She’s one of the main reasons we’re doing so well.”

Mira Costa head coach Don Braunecker echoed the sentiment, noting the awareness of Nakamine.

“She a freshman guard with a great basketball I.Q. She didn’t lose her poise at all out there,” he said. Mira Costa will head to the title game in the State capital, where they’ll square off against Northern California Regional winner Archbishop Mitty, who outlasted St. Francis of Sacramento, 51-41.

“I doubt if it’ll get any easier up north, there won’t be any easy ones. We’re going to just have to go and get it done,” Braunecker said. Meanwhile, he couldn’t keep the smile from widening his face.

“I happy that we’ve finally got a trophy that doesn’t have the words, ‘runner- up’ on it,” he said triumphantly.