STOCKTON, Calif. – High school girls basketball is nothing like the women’s college game, and nowhere close to the WNBA or overseas professional leagues, and at no time was that more apparent than in the Ninth Annual St. Mary’s MLK Showcase match-up on Monday between Antelope and St. Ignatius.
Back in the old days of the NBA when the Boston Celtics were dominating the league under legendary Coach Red Auerbach, opponents often mused that it seemed like Red had a leprechaun sitting on the rim creating a lid over their basket. Well, there wasn’t a lid on the basket at St. Mary's but at times it almost appeared there was as both teams struggled to just make a basket.
In the end, and despite only scoring six points in the second half, Antelope came away with a 34-32 overtime victory over the Cal-Hi Sports No. 14 ranked Wildcats.
There was no question the difference in the game was Mary Carter. The 6-2 junior post that was ineligible for the Titans first six games after transferring from Rocklin, got Antelope (10-3) to 7-0 with her in a Titans uniform after finishing with a game-high 18 points and 11 rebounds with three blocks in the victory.
That would be a solid performance in any game, but in a contest where her team only scored 34 points it would have to be considered a dominating outing. Carter, who was the subject of interest of all the D1 college coaches that stuck around to watch her play, is now averaging 24.9 points, 13.3 rebounds, 4.1 blocks, 3.9 assists and 2.1 steals per game for the seven games in which she’s played.
St. Ignatius actually took a 4-0 lead but from there they just could not get a shot to fall and they trailed 10-5 after one quarter and 20-13 at the half. However, after holding Antelope to four points in the third quarter and two points in the fourth quarter they forced overtime.
Unfortunately for the Wildcats faithful from the time they took a 26-25 lead with almost four minutes left in the fourth quarter they went almost seven minutes without scoring and fell behind 33-26 with two minutes left in the extra period.
At that point Carter had scored four of the first seven points in overtime. All told she blocked a shot and snagged four rebounds in the extra period.
St. Ignatius outscored Antelope 6-1 from there on a three-pointer by senior Soon Jay Elzey, but the second three-pointer by senior Jacqueline Acosta came just before the horn and made the score a little closer.
No one else was in double-figure scoring for Antelope but sophomore Michelle Rice was next highest with five points and six rebounds with five steals and two assists.
St. Ignatius was led by San Jose State-bound Sabrina Ma with 11 points and eight rebounds, and Elzey added a double-double 10 points and 13 rebounds, but the other four Wildcats players that made the scorebook only combined for 11 points.
Prior to the loss St. Ignatius (12-2) had posted a solid 81-63 victory on Saturday in Stockton over state-ranked Vanden-Fairfield and they rebounded from the loss to get to 3-0 in the West Catholic Athletic League with a 60-47 victory on Wednesday night at cross-town Sacred Heart Cathedral.
Folsom 69, Mission Hills-San Marcos 59
After agreeing to play national No. 10 Incarnate Word Academy of St. Louis, Missouri on Saturday at the MLK Showcase after Carondelet-Concord had to withdraw, and taking its lumps in a loss, Cal-Hi Sports No. 21 Mission Hills faced No. 12 Folsom and gave the Bulldogs a good fight to the final buzzer.
Folsom (17-0) was coming off an 80-56 victory over Ontario Christian after playing a schedule that only included one game against a team from outside the metro Sacramento area.
The Bulldogs scored the game’s first two baskets and never trailed. They led 19-13 after one quarter and 39-33 at halftime. Folsom stretched the lead to 62-42 after three quarters but Mission Hills cranked up the defense and outscored Folsom 17-7 in the final period.
Junior Charlotte Climenhage, a 6-0 junior wing that is starting to get some recruiting attention followed up a double-double 25 points (four three-pointers) and 10 rebounds outing against Ontario Christian with 21 points (five three-pointers) with eight rebounds in the Folsom victory. Budding freshman star Ava Rawlins added 10 points, four assists and three steals. Fellow freshman Sophia Minderman came off the bench for 11 points.
Mission Hills (10-6) got 17 points on five three-pointers from UC Santa Barbara-bound senior Jessica Grant and 17 points and seven rebounds from Long Beach State-committed senior Kennan Ka.
Since MLK Day Folsom got to 17-0 and 4-0 in the Sierra Foothill League with a 73-41 victory on Wednesday over Granite Bay. Mission Hills got to 10-6 and 3-0 in the Palomar League with a 70-25 victory versus Rancho Bernardo-San Diego.
Laguna Creek-Elk Grove 64, Millennium-Goodyear (Arizona) 57
After a somewhat surprising 24-point loss to McClatchy-Sacramento early last week Laguna Creek (12-2) followed up an impressive 66-49 win at the MLK Showcase on Saturday over San Joaquin Memorial-Fresno with another solid MLK Day victory over perennial Arizona power Millennium.
Tulsa-bound senior wing Ahrray Young led the way for Laguna Creek with 26 points and eight rebounds with six steals and five assists.
Senior Zoe Tillery had 11 points with her final tally coming on a key three-pointer with 1:20 left on a feed from Young that gave Laguna Creek a 60-54 lead. Senior Alicia Enriquez hit two three-pointers and added 10 points.
Laguna Creek trailed 18-10 after the first quarter and fell behind 26-12 before closing the first half on a 15-0 run to take a 27-26 lead into intermission. The run went to 17-0 after Young made the first basket of the second half but Millennium hung tough and the Laguna Creek lead was just 40-38 entering the fourth quarter.
At that point Young, with some help from Tillery, took control. Between them they scored 19 of the Cardinals 23 fourth quarter points with Young accounting for 12 and Tillery for seven of the points.
Millennium (10-8) was led by sophomore guard Elli Guiney with 20 points and six rebounds with four assists.
Clovis West-Fresno 79, Lynwood 39
Clovis West (12-3) bolted out to an 11-2 lead and never looked back in game in which they stretched the lead all the way up to the final buzzer.
The Cal-Hi Sports No. 11 ranked Golden Eagles were led by Etoyah Montgomery. The standout junior forward led three girls in double-figure scoring with a double-double 25 points and 10 rebounds with three steals and two blocks, all in three quarters of work. Blossoming sophomore Athena Tomlinson added a different kind of double-double after finishing with 22 points (two 3-pointers) and 11 steals with four assists. Senior Kennedy Vincent added 10 points and six rebounds.
Lynwood (7-9) got 21 points from junior Aliyah Young.
Clovis West improved its record to 12-3 with a Tuesday running clock win over Clovis East-Clovis
In other MLK Day Showcase results
San Joaquin Memorial-Fresno 52, Lincoln-Stockton 29
Edison-Stockton 52, Whitney-Rocklin 41
