GIRLS’ BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS

Division IV

Lincoln 104, Imperial 35--When the buzzer sounded ending the third quarter, Imperial Coach Doris Vindiolo looked toward her Lincoln counterpart and asked Dorothy Robinson why she was still using a full-court press, what with a 51-point lead and all.

It was a plea more than anything, but it didn’t register with Robinson. Lincoln continued to press and continued to play starting center Sheila Dixon, who finished with 32 points, three fewer than Imperial’s team total.

And that wasn’t even the worst part for Imperial--not when a 2 1/2-hour bus ride home awaited.

“I have one senior on the team, Isabel Lopez,” Vindiolo said. “I was hoping for her sake that (Robinson) would have some respect for the seniors playing in their last game. She (Lopez) took it really bad. It hurts me to see that kind of thing happen when the only purpose is to make my girls look bad.”

Imperial finished the season 3-14. Lincoln improved to 18-2.

Robinson offered no apologies.

“What we had to do was push up the tempo,” Robinson said. “We don’t know what we’re going to face in the championship game on Friday. Unfortunately we had to do it against them, but we had to get ready for Friday.”

As for Imperial, Robinson had some words of encouragement.

“I told (Vindiolo) to get her kids in a summer basketball camp,” Robinson said.