It took a bit of coordination and cooperation from coaches around the state but here are recaps from all six Girls NorCal and SoCal CIF Open Division quarterfinal games
Oak Ridge moves into semis in tale of two halves
LOS ALTOS HIILS, Calif. – The state CIF Northern Regional Open Division quarterfinal between Pinewood and Oak Ridge-El Dorado Hills was a classic tales of two halves affair.
Host and No. 4 seed Pinewood came out strong and dominated early on, but No. 5 seed and CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I champion Oak Ridge never let it get out of hand and took over in the second half for a 51-48 victory in the only game of the six quarterfinals around the state not won by the top seed.
“Our girls are home grown,” said veteran Oak Ridge head coach Stephen White. “We know we can compete at the Open level, it’s just the road’s going to be more difficult.”
Oak Ridge (25-5) now moves on to the NorCal semifinals where the Trojans make a return trip to the Bay Area to face Carondelet on Saturday in Concord. Top-seeded Carondelet had a first round bye.
The Trojans have been proving they can compete with a 10th straight win including two against arch rival Folsom. They came into the game No. 12 in the Cal-Hi Sports rankings and almost assuredly will be moving up next week win or lose on Saturday.
The highlight of the quarterfinal was the match-up between two players from opposite teams both going to the University of Washington, Teagan Brown of Oak Ridge and Elle Ladine of Pinewood.
Brown had an abysmal first quarter but started to warm up in the second where she had three of her six three pointers. For the game Brown finished with a team-high double-double 19 points and 10 rebounds.
Ladine had the upper hand in the first half as she played her heart out, but just like in the CIF Central Coast Section championship last week against Archbishop Mitty-San Jose, she seemed to tire down the stretch and the supporting cast of Pinewood was not up to the task unlike the girls behind Brown.
Ladine finished with a huge double-double 31 points and 15 rebounds, and although she did have 13 second half points, her rebounding fell off as she could only get three in the final two quarters.
Oak Ridge was ice cold to start and trailed 8-0, but that’s when White inserted Sofia Williams into the game. She seemed to give a listless Trojans a spark of energy when she made a three-pointer with 4:03 left in the first. Although those would be the only points Oak Ridge would score in the quarter, and they trailed 13-3 going to the second, the worm was starting to turn and that would be the largest deficit.
“We had them on the ropes but they hit the shots and we didn’t,” said Pinewood head coach Doc Scheppler. “We’re Elle and the Belles. She puts everything on the line but it came up short.”
The Trojans cut the deficit to 26-16 at halftime and it was 28-21 early in the third quarter, but Oak Ridge went on a 16-4 run to take a 37-32 lead it never relinquished. Pinewood closed to 37-36 entering the final period, and they got it to one point twice in the final stanza, the last being 43-44, but the Trojans had the answers.
Brown found Williams on a kick out off a double team and despite being a freshman she drained a three-pointers to give Oak Ridge a 47-43 lead with 1:52 left. Pinewood failed to convert on the next possession and Williams was fouled and converted both ends of the one-on-one to make it 49-43.
Skylar Chui scored for Pinewood’s but with under a minute to go junior Brooke Williams converted the one-on-one and it was back to six at 51-45.
Ladine gave the Panthers faithful a breath of hope when she hit a three-pointer for Pinewood’s final tally.
Brooke Williams then missed the front end of the one-on-one but Pinewood couldn’t convert. Brown then missed two free throws and Pinewood had the ball with 6.2 seconds remaining.
With time running out they couldn’t find Ladine or another three-point shooter so they got the ball to senior Gabrielle Harris. She got a fairly decent look but her three-point attempt at the buzzer clanked off iron.
“We have a resilient bunch of kids. They play hard, they play together,” White remarked. “We had unsung heroes step up and hit buckets tonight.”
Sofia Williams finished with 10 points. Another of those unsung heroes was senior Abby Helwig. She only had three points but it came on three-pointer after Pinewood had closed to 40-39 in the early fourth quarter. Senior power forward Ella Ray only had five points and three rebounds with three blocks, but two of her baskets came in the third quarter when Oak Ridge was making its run and her 6-3 size bothered Pinewood in the paint.
Other than Ladine, Pinewood (22-3) had no other players in double-figure scoring. Emily Lee had eight points, including a three-pointer that cut it to 40-39, and Chui had seven rebounds and two blocks, but only the one fourth quarter basket.
“We’re just a really fundamental team,” Ladine said. “No one is selfish, we play hard defense, box out, we’re not afraid to make the extra pass. We just stay locked in and I think that’s what gets us these wins.”
So far in the playoffs Oak Ridge has gotten it done. Now, in top-seeded Carondelet they’ll be facing a team with two top-notch college recruits, Stanford-bound Talana Lepolo and UC Davis-committed Nya Epps.”
“Here we go again,” said White about facing Carondelet. “Another perennial powerhouse in the Open Division and we’ll see what we can do.”
What was Brown’s take on the match-up with the Cougars?
“We just have to play our game and play hard,” Brown said.
The winner of the Oak Ridge at Carondelet semifinal will play the other semifinal winner pitting Clovis West-Fresno at Archbishop Mitty. The two winners will then meet for the Northern Regional Open Division championship at the site of the higher seed.
Mitty cranks up defense in rout of San Ramon Valley
Second-seeded Archbishop Mitty was a pretty solid favorite in its quarterfinal match-up with No. 7 seed San Ramon Valley but not many saw a 74-36 victory that was 47-15 at the half and went to a running clock in the fourth quarter.
“Our defense was stellar,” said Mitty head coach Sue Phillips. “To be able to limit touches and shot attempts with a team of the firepower of San Ramon Valley, inclusive of (Natalie) Pasco, is the story of the game.”
Mitty limited the Boise State-committed Pasco to just two points.
Host Mitty (28-1) got a game-high 21 points (three three-pointers) from standout sophomore Morgan Cheli and 19 points (five three-pointers) from Texas-San Antonio-bound Siena Guttadauro.
San Ramon Valley (26-5) was led by sophomore Sierra Chambers with seven points, all in the second quarter.
With respect to the pending semifinal with Clovis West Phillips will have two days to prepare.
“We haven’t studied Clovis West in detail quite yet, but nevertheless we know an outstanding opponent will be in our gym on Saturday night.”
Clovis West squeaks by Folsom to reach semis
The closest of the six Regional Open Division quarterfinals was contested in Fresno where host and No. 3 seed Clovis West got all it could handle before hanging on for a 51-48 victory over sixth-seeded Folsom.
The Golden Eagles led 27-22 at the half and 40-34 after three quarters but the visiting Bulldogs fought all the way to the final buzzer.
Junior star Etoyah Montgomery led Clovis West (28-3) with a double-double 19 points (two three-pointers) and 13 rebounds but she played with early foul trouble.
Clovis West built a 13-point third quarter lead but Folsom forced some turnovers and made some big shots to come storming back and take a one-point lead. From there however a bucket by senior Kennedy Vincent, a three-pointer by Montgomery and a free-throw by sophomore sensation Athena Montgomery (15 points, three three-pointers) turned the tide. Folsom had a final opportunity but freshman Riley Walls got a game-sealing steal.
According to Golden Eagles head coach Craig Campbell a key to the victory was defense. He particularly cited the effort of senior point guard Michaela Young in holding Folsom star senior point guard Makayla Jackson to eight points and none in the fourth quarter.
Beside’s Jackson’s eight points Folsom (26-4) got eight points from junior Charlotte Climenhage and freshman Sophie Mindermann.
SOUTHERN REGIONAL OPEN DIVISION QUARTERFINALS
No stopping Juju as Sierra Canyon rolls
Earlier this week talking girls basketball with a veteran WNBA assistant coach that in the past coached both boys and girls at the high school level, the coach asked. “How good is Juju Watkins?”
That question came before the junior superstar’s Wednesday night performance in the state CIF Southern Regional quarterfinal against Cathedral Catholic-San Diego when Watkins showed just how good she is with a triple-double 37 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists in a 94-50 victory. At one point when the Trailblazers took charge in the second Watkins scored 16 straight points and had 27 at halftime.
Watkins and third-seeded Sierra Canyon (27-2) didn’t just put a running clock win on someone they were supposed to put one on, they did it to a team with three D1-bound college stars, Connecticut-bound Isuneh “Ice” Brady, Loyola-Marymount-committed Itzel “Izzy” Navarro, and Houston-bound Taryn Johnson.
Watkins wasn’t alone. Some day Watkins will be going to a big-time school, and sophomores Mackenly Randolph and Izela Arenas will be at major colleges as well. Randolph had a double-double 17 points and 11 rebounds and Arenas chipped in with 14 points.
Sierra Canyon now gets a re-match in the semifinals with a second-seeded La Jolla Country Day team that handed them one of their two losses in a 73-71 defeat at the Mater Dei Matt Denning Classic in early January.
La Jolla Country Day holds off Mater Dei
Host and second-seeded La Jolla Country (25-2) prevailed in a game that was close throughout with the 53-48 final score the largest lead of the game.
Country Day junior star and 6-4 post Breya Cunningham led the way for the Torreys with a game-high 20 points.
Mater Dei pushed Country Day all the way into the fourth quarter and tied the game at 43-43 with around three minutes left but that’s when budding sophomore star Tajianna Roberts took over. Mater Dei had a turnover and two missed shots and each time Roberts converted with fast-break layups. UCLA-committed junior guard Jada Williams (nine points) had a late block and a breakaway layup to seal the game.
Mater Dei (23-7) got a team-high 11 points from Texas-El Paso-committed senior Soleil Montrose.
Centennial moves on with win over Mission Hills
Defending state CIF Southern Regional Open Division champion Centennial-Corona moved a step closer to a possible repeat with a 62-51 victory over a very solid Mission Hills-San Marcos whose motto all season has been that they would play anyone.
Mission Hills gave just about everyone in an ultra-tough schedule a good game, including the Huskies in each of the two meetings, but in this game, unlike the 66-61 loss to Centennial at the Mater Dei Matt Denning Classic in early January, the Huskies buried the Grizzlies early.
Fourth-seeded Centennial (26-6) jumped out to a 35-23 halftime lead and then really clamped down on defense to take a 49-27 advantage into the final period. UC Santa Barbara-bound Mission Hills senior Jessica Grant got hot in the fourth and scored 15 of her game-high 24 points (five three-pointers) in the final stanza, but at that point it was pretty much academic.
Londynn Jones, a UCLA-committed senior guard, was under her average but still led Centennial with 17 points, including 10 in the third quarter when the Huskies really asserted themselves.
Two other Centennial players were in double-figure scoring, highly regarded junior guard Sydni Summers with 16 points (two three-pointers) and Loyola Marymount-bound senior Layla Curry with 14 points.
No. 5 seed Mission Hills finishes the season with a 24-8 record.
Centennial now moves into the semifinals on Saturday at Inland Empire top-seeded arch rival, national No. 2, and Cal-Hi Sports No. 1 ranked Etiwanda. The 28-0 Eagles had a first round bye.
