With apologies to Mustangs' fans everywhere, Chugiak girls basketball coach Tracy Adams prefers to call his team something else.
"We are clones," Adams said. "It's what we have."
Cut to Chugiak clone Lindsay Murphy, a sophomore and one of eight Mustangs listed between 5-foot-6 and 5-9. She stepped to the free-throw line with Friday's outcome in the balance and repeated the same successful stroke twice.
Chugiak 43, South 42.
Murphy's pair of free throws with three seconds left lifted Chugiak into the Class 4A state tournament two weeks from now and into tonight's Cook Inlet Conference Tournament title game at West High. The Clones, er, Mustangs (18-6) also avenged their lone loss of the CIC regular season.
South hung a 40-38 loss on Chugiak earlier this week.
Before Murphy became the heroine, Chugiak rebounded from a ragged start using a style all its own. Playing almost exclusively with players of similar stature, the Mustangs erased an eight-point deficit in the final 4:28 and outscored South 14-4 down the stretch.
"We don't have a true post player," Adams said. "We have girls who can catch the ball and distribute. Most of the time, we have to rely on the speed of our shooters. If we get the ball in their hands and use speed to get to the basket, we're good to go."
But on a night when Chugiak shot a chilly 23.9 percent from the floor (16 of 67), it needed every point. The Mustangs are adept at passing and cutting on the offensive end. It's enough to dizzy any defense.
"We just keep running because we don't have many big girls," Murphy said. "We like to run (opponents') big girls until they're tired."
Trailing 42-41 with 33 seconds remaining, the Mustangs kept possession despite missing three shots. A jump-ball situation with four seconds left went in Chugiak's favor and led to Murphy getting fouled near the free-throw line on the inbounds pass.
"I just knew I needed to make the first one," Murphy said. "After that, I thought about overtime. I knew we could beat them in overtime.
"But the second one went in. It was kind of nerve-wracking."
Afterward, South unsuccessfully tried to go the length of the court for a game-winning shot.
Wolverines point guard Molly Mahan lined up at the left baseline. She tossed a pass across the baseline to Alex Brewster, who was ruled to have caught the ball inbounds before stepping out of bounds. By design, Brewster likely wanted to legally catch the ball out of bounds and throw a bomb down court to a streaking teammate.
Chugiak ran out the clock on the change of possession.
South junior Kelly Gamblin (13 points, 11 rebounds) said the Wolverines practice the play regularly.
"We didn't take care of the ball or finish the little things we had throughout the game," Gamblin said. "We need to make our fundamentals count every game."
South committed 24 turnovers.
Chugiak junior Sarah Watzke led her team with 13 points and 10 rebounds. South's Liza Spano paced the Wolverines with 17 points, including five three pointers.
South (13-10) can arrange a date at state for the first time in its three-year existence with a win in today's third-place game.
Chugiak goes for a CIC championship sweep in the tournament title game tonight against East.
"Those last few minutes (against South) we were getting down more and more and I didn't know which way it was going to go," Murphy said. "We just happened to finish on top."
Daily News educational services coordinator Matt Nevala can be reached at mnevala@adn.com or 257-4437.
East 43, Dimond 28
Jordan Martin scored 13 points and Jazzie Gaddy added 12 as the East Thunderbirds advanced to the CIC championship game with a commanding win over defending Class 4A state champion Dimond.
Gaddy also had 12 rebounds.
Jill DeGuzman paced Dimond with eight points.
Cook Inlet Conference
Girls Basketball Tournament
At West High
Friday's Semifinals
SOUTH (42) -- Brewster 2, Mahan 2, Gurule 2, Gamblin 13, Spano 17, Oestgaard 6.
CHUGIAK (43) -- Watzke 13, Finch 5, Sayer 2, Clifford 9, Jennings 7, Weiss 2, Murphy 5.
South 9 8 19 6 -- 42
Chugiak 8 11 9 15 -- 43
DIMOND (28) -- D. DeGuzman 5, J. DeGuzman 8, Savage 3, McAdoo 4, Liggon 3, Davydenko 5.
EAST (43) -- Kreilkamp 4, Jackson 2, Martin 13, Pio 6, Hunter 3, Shoenborn 3, Gaddy 12.
Dimond 7 6 11 4 -- 28
East 14 10 8 11 -- 43
CIC BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
Girls
At West High
Friday's Semifinals
Chugiak 43, South 42
East 43, Dimond 28
Today's Games
Third-place -- South (13-10 record) vs. Dimond (10-14), 1:45 p.m.
Championship -- Chugiak (18-6) vs. East (19-7), 7:45 p.m.
