Miramonte's rapid rebuilding process keyed by balance and speed

When Miramonte's (Orinda, Calif.) girls basketball team lost its top three starters off last year's 31-2 squad, little panic set in.

Reinforcements were on the way.

They would be in the form of three highly touted freshmen in 5-foot-10 guard Sabrina Ionescu, 5-10 forward Uriah Howard and 5-6 guard Keanna Delos Santos.

Jesse Wilson, another ninth-grader, also joined a group of fast, skilled and talented athletes and the results have been overwhelming.

The fast-paced and ultra-balanced Matadors are 18-1, averaging 70 points a game and No. 9 in the state, according to the MaxPreps Freeman rankings. That despite the fact there's not a 6-footer on their roster.

"From the first day of practice I knew we were going to be faster," Miramonte coach Kelly Sopak said. "I didn't know we'd be this fast."

That goes for its rapid "rebuilding" project as well.

The Matadors are also much better defensively than last year, especially on the press, which has turned to instant offense. Miramonte still utilizes 3-point shooting — it had 11 in a 98-65 win over Dublin on Tuesday but the most important weapon in its arsenal is simply sheer balance.

Who in the heck do you stop?

Six players score between 9.2 and 11.2 points per game and all 10 on the roster have started. There's absolutely no drop-off when Sopak goes to his bench, and almost always all 10 are utilized by midway through the first quarter.

"The way I look at it, we have 10 starters," Sopak said. "I knew we had some talented kids but we're so young and my concern was how we would jell. But they've stuck like glue. The team is incredibly close."

It helps that that co-captains, point guards and three-year starters Megan Reid (5-8) and Carly Gill (5-5) are so unselfish.

Sopak said both could be leading scorers on any other teams, but both would rather distribute. Each can and does score however, Gill at 10.1 per game and Reid, who remarkably plays soccer for Miramonte the same season, at 9.8.

The leading scorer is 5-11 junior Breanna Alford at 11.2 per game. "She's been in the system, has improved her conditioning a ton and also leads the team in rebounds (9.0 per game)," Sopak said.

Her backup Howard is actually the second leading scorer at 10.5 and Ionescu, a five-tool player considered a major college prospect averages 10.4 per game.

"She can do about anything," Sopak said of Ionescu. "She's a great rebounder and defensive player, an extra smooth ball-hander. She's a stud."

Delos Santos is the fourth-leading scorer at 10.3, a 3-point sharp shooter who can handle the ball.

Other key players are 5-4 junior guard Allison Miller, 5-9 sophomore Kaitlin Fenn and 5-8 junior Nadine Masarweh. That means the Matadors will lose just one to graduation.

The team's only loss was to the nation's No. 7 squad Windward, 68-43, in the finals of the Nike TOC in Arizona. Miramonte trailed just 35-31 at halftime, but then just wore down.

The Matadors rebounded immediately and won the Diamond Division of the West Coast Jamboree over a very strong Salesian squad. They've scored at least 70 in 15 of 19 games, but likely won't get there today when it faces perennial national power and defending state champion Mitty at the Campolindo Shootout.

Mitty, coached by Sue Phillips, is known for its hard-nosed defense and taking care of the ball, so that likely lends itself to a close, lower-scoring game.

"No matter what – if we win by 20 or lost by 20 – we'll find out exactly where we're at," Sopak said. "This is a great, great test for us."

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Campolindo Shootout
Girls basketball At Bentley-Lafayette High School

* Campolindo (Moraga) (14-3) vs. Castro Valley (3-13), 10:30 a.m.

* Oakland Tech (Oakland) (14-3) vs. McNair (Stockton) (20-1), noon

* Heritage (Brentwood) (14-4) vs. Oak Ridge (El Dorado Hills) (18-2), 1:30 p.m.

* Miramonte-Orinda (17-1) vs. Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) (14-4), 3:30 p.m.

* Carondelet (Concord) (14-3) vs. Berkeley (10-8), 5 p.m.

* St. Mary's (Albany)(15-4) vs. Brookside Christian (Stockton) (17-3), 6:30 p.m.

* Washington (San Francisco) (11-10) vs. Florin (Sacramento) (12-6), 8 p.m.

All records after Thursday's games