KENTFIELD, Calif. – St. Ignatius and Menlo met in the LadyCat Classic championship game at Marin Catholic for the second consecutive season, and the Wildcats avenged last year’s defeat with a 66-51 victory.
Maddie Ennis scored 20 points, and St. Ignatius gained a significant advantage on the glass and on defense, leading to a series of second chance points and fast breaks that proved too much to handle for a young Menlo squad. The Knights battled and kept it competitive until the fourth quarter, when the Wildcats scored seven answered points to open the period and stayed firmly in control the rest of the way.
“This team plays extremely hard,” St. Ignatius coach Mike Mulkerrins said. “They win most 50/50 plays, and that’s the difference in a close game. My freshmen played dynamite minutes tonight. Menlo was doubling (Maddie) and she stayed poised, she played really well.”
Both teams had a smooth road to the final. St. Ignatius (3-0) beat Campolindo 73-22 on Thursday and Aptos 52-31 on Friday. Menlo School (2-1) topped Urban 75-53 in the opener and the host team 67-30.
Only one other Wildcat besides Ennis reached double figures in scoring – Rachel Harvey with 11. But in all 10 St. Ignatius players made an entry in the scoring column. For Menlo, sophomore guard Avery Lee led with 17 and freshman Sharon Nejad had 10.
“Last year we didn’t win it, so I wanted to come in with a different mentality and energy,” Ennis said. “Our energy is something that won us this tournament.”
Both teams came out with tremendous energy and scrappiness. Harvey dropped in a three to punctuate the first and give the Wildcats a 19-17 lead. Ennis was 4-for-6 in the opening frame but had to sit out the entire second quarter due to foul trouble. The Wildcats fended off the Knights, however, and finished the half up 38-34.
In the third, Menlo took what would be its last lead, 40-39, with 6:04 to go. A beautiful assist from Tatiana Newsome to Angie McAdams, followed by consecutive buckets by Ennis, gave St. Ignatius a five-point cushion. The Wildcats ended the quarter in that position, 52-47.
In the postgame comments, Ennis would note Newsome’s toughness, McAdams’s defense, and other players’ abilities that helped set up her and Harvey.
The opening few minutes of the fourth proved a perfect microcosm of how St. Ignatius triumphed. Newsome and Harvey, both guards, had consecutive put-backs to open the quarter, and with just under five minutes remaining, Harvey came up with a steal and drew a foul when the opponent landed on her. Later in the period, Ennis forced an over-and-back, cementing the momentum that befell the Knights.
In 2017, Menlo triumphed 67-65. In that game, the Knights received 43 points from their seniors. They begin this season’s campaign with just one senior and two juniors, a change not lost on head coach John Paye.
“We’re a really young team,” Paye said. “We got them in foul trouble in the first half, but we didn’t execute the free throws that we got, and then they didn’t foul in the second half."
Menlo was 8-for-17 from the foul line in the first half, and 6-for-9 in the second. Paye also noted the Wildcats’ offensive rebounding.
”The tournaments are important for us to gain confidence, and try to figure out our rotations,” Mulkerrins added. “We were hoping to play (Menlo) in the finals. Our girls were up for the game.”
