Bella Vista used ineligible player, forfeits playoff win over Pitman

Dustin Curtiss thanked his seniors for re-establishing a culture of success, and then released the Pitman girls basketball team to the offseason.

That was the scene in the visitor’s locker room on Tuesday evening in Fair Oaks.

Making its first Sac-Joaquin Section postseason appearance since 2012, the Pride looked the part in a 57-32 loss to sixth-seeded Bella Vista in the first round of the Division II playoffs. The Broncos pulled away from No. 11 Pitman with a 17-9 run in the second quarter.

In the locker room afterward, Curtiss did his best to cushion the fall. He praised seniors Mika Jimenez, Alize Tyler, Katie Willett and Michelle Robinson.

“It was tough. All of them were sophomores on a varsity team that won one league game. We only won two league games last year,” Curtiss said. “We acknowledged the hard work they put in and let the underclassmen know this is the model. We gave them credit for rebuilding the program. It was pretty emotional in there.”

About 15 hours later, Curtiss delivered another message to his team: Come on back, we’re not done yet.

Pitman (17-7) has new life in the D-II playoffs because Bella Vista (17-11) was forced to forfeit the victory for playing an ineligible player, according Will DeBoard, the Section’s director of communications.

Bella Vista self-reported the infraction to the Section office Wednesday morning shortly after learning of the player’s academic standing. DeBoard said the Section didn’t hesitate to reverse the outcome and grant Pitman its first-ever playoff victory.

Curtiss was off campus when he was notified by athletic director David Walls. He scrambled back to the school to meet with his team.

Pitman advances to the quarterfinal round, where it will face No. 3 Elk Grove (19-9) on Thursday evening. The Herd harassed Central California Conference foe Atwater (18-9) with a 2-3 zone, forcing 29 turnovers in a 70-32 victory.

“It was kind of shocking. You don’t expect something like that to happen, but we’ll take advantage of it and see what we can do against the No. 3 seed,” Curtiss said. “They played well against Atwater, so maybe we can call (Atwater) and see what they did well.”

Curtiss is confident Pitman can eliminate the mistakes that fast-tracked their loss to Bella Vista. His girls played shell-shocked and it showed with their shooting percentage. Even gimmes – like layups and open looks – were an adventure for the wide-eyed Pride.

Dezmine Washington was the only Pride player in double figures with 10 points. Leading scorer Kaylin Randhawa had just six points, nearly seven below her season average. Olivia Salafia also had seven points in what the Pitman players assumed was their final game of the season.

On Wednesday, they learned otherwise. Curtiss gathered with his team during a sixth period P.E. class and then scrambled to set a game plan.

“I think we played a little tight (Tuesday). We had nobody with playoff experience, but now we’ve seen what the playoffs are like. Let’s go out and play free,” Curtiss said. “We missed a lot of shots we should have made. ... If we can relax and play, you never know.”

This story was originally published February 24, 2016 at 11:43 AM with the headline "Bella Vista used ineligible player, forfeits playoff win over Pitman."