Monarchs get career coaching victory No. 597 for Sue Phillips
SAN JOSE – If the West Catholic Athletic League home opener for Archbishop Mitty is any indication of things to come this season the rest of the league and Northern California in general better be prepared for the depth of the young Monarchs.
Five girls were in double figure scoring and two had double-doubles as Mitty (10-3, 2-0) powered past St. Ignatius-San Francisco in an 85-52 victory.
Haley Jones, a 6-0 freshman wing, led the way for the Monarchs with 16 points and 10 rebounds plus three assists and three steals. Junior wing Maddie Holland, who already has offers from Cal Poly, San Francisco, St. Mary’s and UC Davis, had 14 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and three steals. Junior guard Heleyna Hill had 15 points and junior long-range shooter Daniella Guglielmo added 12 points on four 3-pointers.
Mitty went out to a 5-0 lead and never looked back in a game that nearly went to a running clock.
St. Ignatius (5-8, 0-2) got a solid 23-point effort from recently eligible Cal Poly-verballed junior Ayzhiana Basallo.
The Monarchs have lost three games but all of them are to nationally-ranked teams with two of them coming in a fourth place finish in the top division of the Nike TOC in Phoenix (Arizona) last month.
The Maxpreps computer doesn’t seem to think that highly of Mitty’s power rating with a No. 15 rating in California. However, based on losses to Maxpreps national No. 1 St. Mary’s-Stockton, in a game they were very competitive, a closer loss to Maxpreps national No. 5 and Nevada No. 1 Centennial-Las Vegas, and an even closer loss to national No. 15 and New York No. 2 Cicero-North Syracuse, plus with wins over national powers Miami Country Day (Florida), Our Lady of Good Counsel (Maryland) and Arizona No. 2 Seton Catholic-Chandler, Cal-Hi Sports has them No. 3 in California and they will occupy the same spot behind St. Mary’s and Miramonte-Orinda when the Prep2Prep Northern California rankings are released on Monday.
The only team in California that appears to have a deeper roster than veteran Monarchs Coach Sue Phillips would seem to be St. Mary’s.
Besides the four double figure scorers in the St. Ignatius win, Phillips has five other girls averaging around seven points a game, 6-2 junior post Tahlia Garza, 6-0 sophomore Karisma Ortiz, sophomore guard Krissy Miyahara, 6-2 sophomore post Nicole Blakes, and guard Jahnay Anderson, the lone senior on the 10-player squad.
Not only does Mitty have more size than in the past few seasons, they have solid ball-handling, speed and excellent shooting.
“The key to this team is versatility,” said Phillips, who notched career win No. 597 in the victory. “We can play Maddie, Haley, Karisma, Daniella, or Jessie (6-0 sophomore Danielle Matlock) at guard or post. Because of it I’ve got to be on my toes to identify mismatches do we can exploit them.”
Mitty can even put five six-footers on the floor at one time and that’s something that could be a factor come playoff time.
Even with all she has in her arsenal the discussion turned to freshman Jones, who many observers feel might be the best player at Mitty since Danielle Robinson who went on to star at Oklahoma, the WNBA and is currently playing in Europe.
“Haley can do a lot of good things, plays all five positions, has a level of maturity beyond her years, makes great decisions, has worked hard in the weight room, uses either hand, shares the ball like you have to do in our program, never complains or makes excuses, has absorbed the ability to play all three positions in our system. I could go on and on,” said Phillips, who has coached for USA Basketball and is considered one of the best coaches nationally in girls’ basketball.
It’s hard to believe Phillips is not on her tippy-toes with excitement for what she has in the Monarchs lineup not only this year but next year as well.
“We’re excited for the vision we have for this group in March,” Phillips remarked.
Whether or not she has what it takes to topple St. Mary’s the Mitty skipper is enjoying the ride.
“Now you can see why I’m so wound up about this team, plus they’re a fun group to coach,” Phillips concluded.
Up next for Mitty in WCAL play is a home game with St. Francis-Mountain View, a trip across town to Presentation, and if the girls get two victories in those games Phillips will go for career win No. 600 on January 23 when the Monarch host cross-town Valley Christian.
