EL SEGUNDO -- The El Segundo girls basketball team made a frantic attempt to keep not just its season alive, but also its hopes of advancing past the CIF-Southern Section Division 3-AA quarterfinals Tuesday.
El Segundo trailed Culver City by 15 points after three quarters, but got as close as two points late in the fourth.
When the dust settled, it was Culver City that emerged victorious, staving off the ferocious El Segundo rally to escape with a 52-47 victory.
Culver City (20-9) will visit Cerritos in Saturday's semifinal round.
It was the play of a pair of El Segundo (21-12) freshmen, Avery Pintens and Sofia Rozell, that did the bulk of the heavy lifting, especially in the fourth quarter.
Rozell began the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer. After Ella Sabosky stole the ensuing inbound pass, Pintens drew a foul and hit both free throws, cutting the deficit to 40-30 with 7:19 to play in the quarter.
Culver City opened up a 45-31 lead following Makenna Lohmann's 3-pointer with six minutes to play, but Rozell and Pintens took over from there.
Sabosky hit a 3-pointer with 4:47 to play to cut El Segundo's deficit to nine before Rozell stole the inbound pass and hit a layup, forcing Culver City to call a timeout with 4:28 remaining.
"(We needed to change) our defense, boxing out and putting pressure on the ball," Rozell said. "We picked it up late in the third quarter."
After a Pintens layup, Rozell stole another inbound pass before being fouled. She hit both free throws, making it a 48-43 game. Thirty seconds later, Pintens hit another 3-pointer, her third of the night, to make it a 49-46 game with 3:09 to play.
"(Culver City) was trying not to let me shoot. As someone who is a shooter and I'm confident in my shot, I know that if I see the rim I'm going to shoot," Pintens said. "I'm confident in my shot, even if I miss I'm going to keep shooting until I make it."
Pintens scored eight of her team-high 22 in the fourth quarter. Rozell led the Eagles with 10 points in the fourth. She finished with 21 points, five steals and five rebounds.
"In the third and fourth, when we needed a shot, (Pintens and Rozell) did what they had to do and initiated the offense for us," El Segundo coach Terrence Wilson said.
Sabosky hit one of two free throws with 1:49 to play, making it a two-point game before Culver City made three of its four free throws down the stretch to advance to the programs first CIF-SS semifinal since 2018.
"We knew we had to stay focused," Culver City coach Julian Anderson said. "We lost focus and let the crowd get to us a little bit. We let a few turnovers get to us, too."
Culver City led 22-19 at halftime before beginning the third quarter on a 10-0 run behind the play of Alexa Lee. The senior sharpshooter scored eight consecutive points, including a 3-pointer from the wing that put the Centaurs ahead 32-19. Lee finished with 15 points.
"(The third quarter) was great," Anderson said. "Usually, the third quarter is bad for us. It was great to jump out and get that lead."
While Culver City hit six of its 11 shots in the third, El Segundo's offense was stagnant coming out of the half. The Eagles went 2-for-10 and was outscored 18-6 in the third quarter.
Wilson heaped praise on Pintens and Rozell, watching the freshman duo perform under pressure throughout the season.
"Those two girls, I'm blessed to have them on my team," Wilson said." For them to do what they did for 31 games this year and put their team on their backs as true freshmen, it shows how much they care about the game of basketball."