Down 12 at Half, Eastview Rallies to Win District Title in Overtime
A halftime adjustment, a sophomore who wouldn't quit, and a crowd that never sat down.
At halftime, Eastview trailed by 12. The locker room, by all accounts, was quiet. Coach Diana Rivera didn't yell. She drew up a zone defense on the whiteboard, told her team to stop gambling for steals, and asked her sophomore point guard to run the offense.
"She just said, 'Trust each other,'" said point guard Aaliyah Simmons, who finished with 24 points and eight assists. "That was it. That was the whole speech."
The second half was a different game. Eastview's zone confused a Millbrook offense that had been clicking all night. The lead shrank to six after three quarters, then to two with four minutes left, then to nothing with 38 seconds on the clock when Simmons hit a pull-up jumper from the elbow.
Millbrook had a chance to win in regulation but missed the front end of a one-and-one with 12 seconds left. Overtime was all Eastview. They outscored Millbrook 11-4 in the extra period, with Simmons scoring seven of those points.
Final score: Eastview 68, Millbrook 61. District champions for the first time since 2019.
"I've been coaching for 14 years," Rivera said, still in her warmup jacket in the postgame press area. "That's the best second half I've ever been a part of. Those kids refused to lose."