The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly Athletics for the 2025-26 school year is sponsored by Former Jackrabbits Wendell “WoWo” Moe, Jr. & Tyson Ruffins.
From start to finish of the CIF-SS Division 7 second-round matchup against Kennedy, the Long Beach Poly girls’ basketball team went through a whirlwind of emotions. From a dominant start and early lead to battling back while trailing, it all ended with a chance to win in the final seconds as the Jackrabbits ultimately came up empty-handed in a heartbreaking 47-46 loss.
“From where we started the season to where we ended, I’m extremely proud of these girls,” Poly coach Carl Buggs said after the game. “That’s a good team right there, and we started off well, but we just fell behind. They fought and the opportunity was there, but it’s the problems we’ve had all year: turnovers, boxing out, and making shots. That’s what it came down to.”
Poly trailed by seven points with under a minute and a half to play before a deep three from freshman Eliana Mao on the left wing cut it to a two possession game. Senior Ana Villamar then came up with a steal on the ensuing inbounds pass before Bella Archer drilled another three-pointer from the right wing to bring the game within one.
After the teams traded a pair of layups each way, Poly forced a turnover on a Kennedy inbounds pass to give the Jackrabbits the ball trailing by one point with nine seconds remaining. In the final seconds, the Jackrabbits had a pair of missed layups before one last heave by Mao rimmed out at the buzzer.
“We had the opportunity and that’s all you can ask for,” Buggs said. “Despite everything that went on, we fought back when we easily could have wilted. They fought back and I’m proud of them. Those same games early in the season we would’ve lost by 20, so the opportunity was there but we just couldn’t finish.”
Poly opened the night firing on offense, jumping out to a 15-4 first-quarter lead thanks to an 11-0 run. The Jackrabbits got three consecutive buckets in the paint from Simdi Akpamgbo to open the game and finished the quarter with five players recording a field goal.
On defense, the Jackrabbits’ main focus was set on containing standout six-foot freshman TaNiya Paul, which proved to be a difficult task the more the game went on. Paul led the Fighting Irish on a 7-0 run to open up the second quarter, finishing the half with 13 of her game-high 19 points
After trailing by five at the break, Kennedy went on a 14–2 run in the third quarter to take its first and final lead of the night. Buggs said he made multiple adjustments throughout the game, specifically with different defensive matchups on Paul, but couldn’t adjust quickly enough to counter Kennedy’s offense.
“The kids were following the scouting report at first, then they went to some things that we hadn’t seen and the kids couldn’t adjust,” he said. “The concept was all the same, but there were a couple backpicks and flare screens and we weren’t communicating well enough, and they were taking advantage of it.”
The final buzzer signaled an emotional Poly team leaving the floor for the last time this season following an up-and-down year. Buggs delivered his usual message to his seniors after the game and shared his appreciation before emphasizing the importance of getting back to work with a large but young group of returners set for next year.
“They’ve gotta make their mind up if they want to become better, and how much better they want to become,” Buggs said. “This is not good enough. If this is all you’re doing, or just a fall league or a summer league, that’s not good enough. But you know, I got some nice kids coming back next year.”
