SANTA CLARA, CA – Second-seeded McClatchy-Sacramento overcame a big first-half scoring drought to post a 46-34 victory over No. 3 seed Oak Ridge-El Dorado Hills in the CIF Northern Regional Division I title game that opened play on Saturday afternoon at the Leavey Center on the campus of Santa Clara University.
Courtesy Clark led McClatchy (31-4) with a double-double 12 points and 12 rebounds and Richelle Turney also had 12 points. Sophomore Kamryn Hall added nine points, five rebounds and four assists, and Utah-bound Jordan Cruz chipped in with eight points, four assists and four steals.
McClatchy led 19-9 midway through a second quarter in which neither team could seem to buy a basket. But after leading 14-7 after the first quarter the Lions only scored five points in the next 13:30, and after a 15-0 run by Oak Ridge they face a 24-19 deficit.
From the, however, the McClatchy defense stiffened and the offense started to click. After only leading 29-28 after three quarters they finally stepped it up to seal the deal with some senior leadership from Cruz and Clark. Cruz had five of her eight points in the fourth quarter. First she made two free-throws that gave the Lions a 36-30 lead, then she assisted on a basket by Clark that made it 38-30, and finally she hit a long three-pointer with 3:20 left that made it 41-32 and pretty much took the starch out of Oak Ridge.
“It was agony. The girls wanted to put us coaches through agony,” McClatchy head coach Jeff Ota responded humorously with respect to the long drought. “But our defense was phenomenal and the girls showed they have heart.”
“It’s been a long season and everybody’s banged up but even so when they got that lead we had to pick it up and get back our energy,” Hall said.
Third-seeded Oak Ridge (23-11) got a double-double 10 points and 11 rebounds with three blocks from Kassidy DeLapp.
It was the third meeting this season between the two teams and adds to a 59-43 victory in the Trojan Toss-up and a 62-54 win in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs by McClatchy over Oak Ridge.
“We left it all out on the court,” Oak Ridge Coach Stephen White said. “I’m proud of the girls and the way they battled and played really hard and aggressive.
McClatchy won its second CIF Northern Regional title with the first coming in 2015 when the Lions defeated Oak Ridge in the NorCals and went on to win the CIF Division I state championship in a double overtime 65-61 victory over Serra-Gardena.
Ota and his girls and now meet Windward-Los Angeles with reigning Cal-Hi Sports State Sophomore of the Year Charisma Osborne for the CIF Division I state championship on Friday night at 6 p.m. at the Golden 1 Arena in Sacramento. Osborne had 35 points in Windward’s 61-43 win over Ventura in the Southern Regional D1 title game.
