BRENTWOOD, Calif. - Two big runs on Saturday morning propelled Valencia past Sacred Heart Cathedral, as the Vikings held off a third-quarter charge from the Fightin' Irish to post the 49-44 victory in the consolation half of the West Coast Jamboree's Gold Division bracket.
The first big run of the game for Valencia happened in the second quarter, after Sacred Heart Cathedral's Nya Epps scored five straight points to tie the game at 16, capping an 8-0 run for the Irish. Valencia then went on an 11-0 run, as Marissa Howell hit back-to-back three-pointers and Mailey Ballard added one from beyond the arc to give the Vikings a 27-16 advantage with just over three minutes remaining in the first half.
The rest of the second quarter was pretty quiet, with Ballard picking up her third foul and Epps hitting a late three to cut the lead back to seven points at the break, 29-22.
In the third quarter, it appeared that Sacred Heart Cathedral had found an answer in the form of Da'Myiah Lewis, who scored eight straight early in the half, capping her own personal run when Alani Gainer found her on a nice entry pass to make the score 33-30. Once again, though, the Vikings had a response. Senior forward Leilani Manuel scored inside, Ballard added a jumper and Howell scored off a steal and transition lay-up to push the lead back to nine with another quick 6-0 run to finish the quarter.
Manuel opened the fourth with another tough shot inside to get the lead back to double-digits, and after a Ballard free throw, Epps nailed a three to cut the lead back to nine at 42-33. Howell, however, made sure that the Valencia lead was never in serious jeopardy, as she scored the next four points for the Vikings on a runner and transition lay-up, sandwiched around a nice step-through move by Lewis, keeping the lead at double digits midway through the fourth quarter at 46-35.
"The big directive for Marissa is to own the ball, to take control of the floor," said Valencia coach Kevin Honaker. "She has to be the alpha dog for us to be successful."
Sacred Heart Cathedral did make one final push, as a pair of steals led to lay-ups by Epps and Dylan Benitez, cutting the lead to seven points. Hope got even greater for the Irish when Ballard picked up fourth foul, but Lewis then injured her ankle after going up for a rebound and Ballard responded with a dagger three-pointer to get the lead back to 10 points at 49-39.
"We like to shoot a lot of three's, and it's great having a tough player like Mailey who can do that for us," Honaker added. "We need more of her mental and physical toughness on both sides of the floor."
Sacred Heart Cathedral would score the final five points of the game, including three free throws from Epps to give her 18 points for the game, but the Vikings had already sealed the victory.
Ballard finished with 15 points for Valencia, while Howell not only dictated the pace for the Vikings but also finished with 14 points.
Valencia now faces Canby-Ore. in the consolation final, while Sacred Heart Cathedral faces San Joaquin Memorial in the seventh-place game.
Gold Division roundup
Heritage got 12 points from Abby Muse and 11 points from Julie Ramirez to hold off Oakland Tech in the semifinals, 46-40. Muse scored eight of her 12 points in the second half, while Ramirez took charge in the second quarter, scoring eight of her points in the first half as the Patriots built a 30-20 lead at the break. Paige Ziemann had a big first quarter for Heritage, draining a pair of early three-pointers to finish with eight points.
Kamehameha Kapalama got 18 points from senior Noelle Sua-Godinet to help the Warriors past Antelope, 59-54, in the other semifinal. Heritage and Kamehameha will face off on Monday at 6 pm for the division championship. Junior Camille Feary added 14 points for Kamehameha, while junior Jzaniya Harriel had a game-high 29 points for Antelope, who will face Oakland Tech in the third-place game.
