PALO ALTO, CA – In the nightcap of the CIF Central Coast Section Open Division quarterfinal on Friday night at Gunn High, No. 4 seed and Prep2Prep No. 4 St. Ignatius used a near perfect first half to build a 41-22 halftime lead and then withstood a late run by Menlo to post a 66-50 victory.
After leading by 19 after two periods St. Ignatius (16-9) stretched it to 51-28 in the late third quarter before the Knights made a run to get to 61-50 with 2:19 left, but at that point the Wildcats knuckled down to close it out with senior Maddie Ennis scoring the game’s final five points.
Ennis, a 5-11 senior forward, finished with a huge double-double 23 points and 12 rebounds with three assists and three assists.
Sophomore Emily Jones added 12 points and five steals, and junior standout Rachel Harvey chipped in with 11 points (two three-pointers), six rebounds and four assists. Juniors Angie McAdams and Diary Khin each hit a three-pointer and finished with seven and six points, respectively. McAdams added three assists.
Menlo (21-4) got a very good performance from Avery Lee. The sophomore guard had three three-pointers, with two of them from beyond college range. She finished with 17 points, three rebounds and three steals.
Freshman Sharon Nejad added 14 points and sophomore CoCo Layton chipped in for 13 points but the only other girls that scored out of 13 girls listed in the book was junior Maeia Makoni. She had six points on two three-pointers.
The score of this game almost duplicated the 66-51 St. Ignatius victory over Menlo in the championship game of the Marin Catholic tournament in early December.
“The score was similar to the first game but in this game we gave them some life because despite the fact we played a great first half, we have yet to put 32 minutes together in any game this season,” St. Ignatius Coach Mike Mulkerrins remarked.
“We didn’t expect to duplicate the first half but we need to be consistent and get them to realize every possession counts, and we can’t get loose and inconsistent,” continued Mulkerrins. “Great teams are consistent and we need to be consistent to beat great teams.”
Mulkerrins and his girls won’t have to wait long as they will be facing Archbishop Mitty on Wednesday in the semifinals at 5:30 p.m. in the first half of a double-header at Piedmont Hills-San Jose. Mitty won the two WCAL meetings this season, 69-50 at home and 90-54 in San Jose.
In the second game on Wednesday at Piedmont Hills it will be Pinewood and Valley Christian squaring off at 7:30 p.m. in the nightcap.
