CHICO — With the round of CIF NorCal Division II playoffs on the line, and overtime looming, the Pleasant Valley girls basketball team gambled. Not at the tables or at the slots, but with the Vikings’ all-time leading scorer AJ Gambol, a junior who gave the Vikings a 64-62 victory Saturday night over Oakland Tech and earned the Vikings a trip to the NorCal Regional finals.
PV is now within one win of the state championship game, and in the same place it lost in 2022-23. This year the No. 3 seed Vikings (26-7) will host No. 4 Colfax (33-2) at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Chico, with the winner earning a spot to represent Northern California in the CIF D-II state championship March 9 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
With 0.5 seconds remaining, PV forward Ava Dunn inbounded the ball, lobbing it over Oakland Tech defender Tai Ana Huff’s head. Gambol let the ball bounce once to prevent the clock from starting, and in one motion grabbed the ball and shot. The shot was nothing-but-net, and sent a packed Varley Gym into a frenzy as the Vikings advanced.
When the volume hits another level. High school March Madness.
AJ Gambol of Pleasant Valley 🔥 pic.twitter.com/IP0CAmZOe8
— MaxPreps (@MaxPreps) March 3, 2024
Dunn said she has a special connection with Gambol, having played together since third grade, and trusted her to get the shot off.
“I told Ava, ‘This girl is way bigger than me, I’m faster than her, so just throw it and I’m going to go get it,’” Gambol said. “She threw it, I got it, and I made it!”
PV trailed 60-55 with 1 minute and 8 seconds remaining, but a deep 3-pointer by Maddux Wilson that went in off the backboard put the Vikings within two points. Oakland extended the lead to 62-58 on a layup by Taliyah Logwood, and the Vikings were forced to foul with 36.4 seconds remaining.
Logwood missed both free throws, and Caitlyn Vickery was fouled with 24.7 seconds remaining. Vickery made both free throws to trim the Bulldogs’ lead to 62-60. With 19.1 seconds remaining PV guard Shannon Fong drew a charge, resulting in a turnover on the Bulldogs.
With the Vikings needing two points to tie or three points to take the lead, Gambol took a mid-range jumper and missed, got her own rebound, was fouled, and made both free throws to tie the game at 62-62.
Vickery drew a charge on Logwood with 0:1.7 remaining, giving the Vikings one final shot. Gambol took a 3/4-court shot, but the clock never started. The referees ruled PV ball, and put 0.5 seconds back on the clock. Then magic happened.
Gambol finished with 28 points, including 12-of-14 from the free-throw line and 11 points in the fourth quarter. Wilson had 17 points, 10 coming in the second half. Vickery had eight points.
PV trailed for the entire game, until the final basket. The Vikings started in a zone defense in the first half, but at halftime shifted to a man-to-man defense. PV trailed 22-15 after the first quarter, 41-31 at halftime, and 55-46 after three quarters.
“We got the lead down to single digits, and in the second half we chipped down and chipped down, but they fouled a lot and got in foul trouble,” said PV head coach Bob Paddock. “We were still in reach and had a chance.”
The Vikings’ deficit got as large as eight points at 60-52 with just over 2 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, but PV finished the game on a 12-2 run to cap the victory.
After PV trailed by 10 points at halftime, the Vikings outscored the Bulldogs 15-14 in the third quarter and 17-7 in the fourth quarter.
Gambol said she was giving it all, and one of the main reasons was for Vickery, the Vikings’ lone senior.
“I know for me, at least in my head, I was like we can’t lose this game. There’s no way we’re losing this game,” Gambol said. “We’re so close, we were here last year, and this is our year. I said we are not letting this be Cait’s last game. I was not letting this be Cait’s last game. I was just going to go out there and play my hardest no matter what.”
Despite Oakland Tech entering as the No. 10 seed and playing on the road, many believed the Bulldogs entered as the favorite. They won the CIF D-I championship in 2022-23, the D-III championship in 2021-22, and prior to the pandemic-shortened season they won the D-II championship in 2019-20. A recruiting violation forced them to forfeit five games in the 2023-24 season, and the CIF bumped them down entering this year’s playoffs.
“That’s a great team. Last year’s D-I state champions, and they’ve been state champions for three years in a row,” Paddock said. “It was a war zone. When I thought we were going into overtime, I was like, ‘This is a war. It’s a battle.’ Then we had .5 left and I said thank God, because we were worn out. I played the girls a lot.”
PV and its home fans will now return to Varley Gym one final time this season Tuesday against Colfax, with hopes that the Vikings will earn a trip to Sacramento.
“I’ve got to get it in their mind that this was not the state final,” Paddock said. “We’ve got to beat Colfax. We’ve got to play well. Last time we beat Chico, we opened with a hangover in the first half the next game. We can’t overlook them, but we are at home.”
