SANTA ANA, Calif. – On a night when the Mater Dei community and the local Orange County proprietor of several McDonald’s restaurants feted Monarchs Iowa-bound senior Addison “Addie” Deal and presented her with a McDonald's All-American team jersey, it was only a prelude to the CIF Southern Section Open Division Pool B opening-round matchup with visiting Windward.

After “the real Deal,” as the public address announcer called her when announcing the starting lineups, accepting the accolades with her parent by her side, the Monarchs star took charge from the opening tip-off and showed just why she’s a legitimate candidate for Cal-Hi Sports Ms. Basketball State Player of the honors, finishing with 26 points (two three-pointers) and 12 rebounds with four assists and two steals in a decisive 62-35 victory by No. 3 seed and host Mater Dei over sixth-seeded Windward.

Deal scored the first basket of the game and after Windward sophomore Charis Rainey tied things at 2-2, Mater Dei senior Lani Stores had two baskets, Deal scored, and sophomore Stella Hoss converted a three-point play and Mater Dei was off to the races with an 11-2 lead they never relinquished. The lead got as high as 30 points before the Monarchs coasted home to the victory.

With sophomore star Kaeli Wynn out for the season with a kneecap injury, it was apparent others will need to step up, and they did. Stores had a solid outing, finishing with 18 points and eight rebounds, and sophomore Harmony Golightly added eight points with two three-pointers.

“Stores has had a great two weeks of practice leading up to today,” said Mater Dei head coach Jody Wynn. “I think the girls are starting to build a continuity since the first couple of games we had after Kaeli’s injury quite frankly it changed how we play.”

“We had to reconfigure some things and give the other girls some confidence moving forward,” Wynn continued. “I think you saw a really confident group out there tonight.”

That confidence will need to continue as Mater Dei (27-2) now moves on to meet No. 7 seed Fairmont Prep. Fairmont Prep lost its Pool B opener 96-57 to No. 2 seed Etiwanda.

Windward (18-8) got 12 points (two three-pointers) and four rebounds from Rainey and nine points and four rebounds from University of Central Florida-committed senior Samari Bankhead, but a glaring stat is Windward was outrebounded 36-22 by Mater Dei.

Windward now moves on to a Pool B matchup with Etiwanda.

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