Benicia High’s girls varsity basketball team survived a double-overtime thriller in the regular season finale on Tuesday, knocking off host American Canyon, 59-53.

Michelle Li drained a 3-pointer just before the end of the first overtime, and big plays by Calei Mendoza, Keylai Boughton and Kameron Hatcher in the second overtime finally put away American Canyon, which was playing in front of its Senior Night crowd.

“It was a crazy game, but as long as we got the win,” said Benicia head coach Randy Saitz.

It was the third straight victory for the Lady Panthers (9-12), who finished third in the Solano County Athletic Conference at 6-4. Benicia earned the No. 14 seed for the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III playoffs and will play at No. 3 Patterson on Tuesday, Feb. 25.

“As long as we’re in, I’m happy with that,” Saitz said. “We’ve won three games in a row and finished 6-4 in league, so I’m happy with that because we’re such a young team.”

Mendoza finished with a game-high 23 points for Benicia, which had only nine players available. Li added 13 points, 11 rebounds and six steals.

American Canyon (13-14, 3-7 SCAC) had a 49-46 lead with 10 seconds left in the first overtime but allowed Li to dribble down court and pull up for the game-tying 3-pointer just before the buzzer.

“I’m surprised they didn’t foul her and not even give her a chance to take a 3-pointer,” Saitz said.

Benicia blew a six-point lead in the final 47 seconds of regulation thanks to a double technical foul call. American Canyon attempted 42 free throws on the night, making 24.

“I thought that was ridiculous,” Saitz said of the double technical foul call. “There was no cussing or anything like that. The refs tried to take this game away from us.”

Sharing is caring!