2009 NIKE EXTRAVAGANZA
At Mater Dei HS, Santa Ana, Calif.
Friday Girls (state rankings)
St. Paul (Santa Fe Springs) 70, Dana Hills (Dana Point) 42
Santa Margarita (Rancho Santa Margarita) 69, Villa Park 66
Foothill (Santa Ana) 57, Long Beach Wilson 32
Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 64, Cajon (San Bernardino) 56
Friday Boys
JSerra Catholic (San Juan Capistrano) 61, Dos Pueblos (Goleta) 60
(See write-ups below)
Saturday Boys
Morning Session (state rankings)
8 a.m. — No. 107 Colony (Ontario) 19-6 vs. No. 32 Sonora (La Habra) 22-2
9:30 a.m. — No. 429 Servite (Anaheim) 5-18 vs. No. 14 Los Alamitos 22-1.
11 a.m. — No. 87 Santa Margarita 16-7 vs. No. 304 Troy (Fullerton)
12:30 p.m. — No. 4 King (Riverside) 17-2 vs. No. 71 Ocean View (Huntington Beach) 18-6
2 p.m. — No. 39 Orange Lutheran (Orange) 21-4 vs. No. 72 Campbell Hall (North Hollywood) 16-6
Afternoon Session (national rankings)
4 p.m. — No. 4 Westchester (Los Angeles) 22-1 vs. No. 251 Rainer Beach (Seattle, Wash.) 11-4
5:30 p.m. — No. 27 Fairfax (Los Angeles) 18-3 vs. No. 129 Whitney Young (Chicago) 17-6
7 p.m. — No. 59 Dominguez (Compton) 19-4 vs. No. 76 De La Salle (Concord) 20-1
9 p.m. — No. 1 Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 23-0 vs. No. 9 St. Benedict’s Prep (Newark, N.J.) 22-1
* Records through Thursday
* All cities in California unless noted
* All boys and girls rankings are MaxPreps/National Guard computer-generated
* See also MaxPreps human-generated Xcellent 25 boys and girls rankings.
By Mitch Stephens
MaxPreps.com
SANTA ANA, Calif. – Seemingly already beaten and broken down by a fierce and unrelenting press, Cajon of San Bernardino and All-American point guard Layshia Clarendon took Mater Dei’s best blow and turned a 12-point first-quarter deficit into a seven-point advantage early in the third quarter.
Turned out, the Monarchs had a better punch still.
The nation’s No. 1 team rattled off 16 straight points in the third quarter and got 19 of a team-high 21 points from superb sophomore Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis in the second half as host Mater Dei (Santa Ana) grinded out a gritty 64-56 victory over No. 4 Cajon in a battle of national powers at the Nike Extravaganza XIV Friday night.
Mosqueda-Lewis, a 6-foot shooting guard, had six in the run, defensive specialist Lauren Rock contributed five, super reserve Alexyz Vaioletama (13 points) powered home a putback and 3-point specialist Kathryn Haugen capped it off with a fastbreak layup as the young and deep Monarchs (25-0) proved they could win a street fight against the battle-tested Cowboys (23-2).
“This is exactly what we needed to learn,” said Mater Dei coach Kevin Kiernan, whose team averaged a 72-35 victory every time out coming in. “We’re a young team. We told them before the game that Cajon isn’t going to give you this game. They’re not intimidated by you. They don’t care about (your) record, the (home) gym, the ranking. They just want to beat you. I don’t think we really got that until midway through the third quarter.
“From that point we were very tough the rest of the way. I’m very proud of them for that.”
They overcame an absolutely courageous 28-point effort from Clarendon, who, like a wounded prey, labored physically throughout the night.
The 5-8 senior, who has signed a letter of intent to Cal, fell hard to the floor at least a dozen times and often took unusually long rests not only between recovery time but free throws, clearly passing the obsolete and never-called 10-second rule.
Clarendon, later admitting her deliberate and dramatic ways were to give her thin squad a blow, never showed affects in performance. She swished 10 of 11 free throws and was 8 of 17 from the field, including a pair of three-pointers.
While constantly wincing and appearing labored, Clarendon was at her best in the second quarter when Cajon went on a 24-11 run. Despite being harassed by physical man pressure and double teams, she had 14 of them, scoring on driving, acrobatic runners, 3-pointers, pulls-ups and free throws.
The Cowboys also were ignited by three steals and a pair of baskets by sophomore Kori Walker.
Four straight free throws by Clarendon in the final 30 seconds of the half gave Cajon just its second lead, 32-31 at halftime.
This after a 14-2 run to end the first quarter, keyed by two 3-pointers from Haugen and six straight off the bench from Vaioletama, gave the Monarchs a 20-8 first-quarter lead.
Asked how she found the energy when it appeared she was so labored, Clarendon said the delays after whistles were key. Kiernan half-heartedly complained to the referees but later credited Clarendon for being smart. He called the holdups “pseudo timeouts” allowing the Cowboys to rest against the very long Monarchs bench.
“It’s a trick my father taught me a long time ago,” she said with a smile.
Mosqueda-Lewis said there’s nothing tricky about Clarendon’s game. She’s just plain good.
“I’ve played with and against her since I was small,” Mosqueda-Lewis said. “She just goes out and kills.”
The Monarchs were hurting even worse after the Cowboys opened the third quarter with six straight points on an outside jumper by Ebony James and back-to-back buckets from Clarendon.
“We were still thinking about what happened in the past and how we’d given up the lead,” Kiernan said.
Mosqueda-Lewis, considered one of the top sophomores in the country, had just two points until then, well off her 23-point average.
“She was just being unselfish the first half,” Kiernan said. “We had other girls open and contributing and she didn’t need to score. I wasn’t worried about her getting her points. I was worried about our mental make-up We were playing soft and frankly it was frustrating.”
That frustration turned the other way over the next four minutes when Mater Dei went on its 16-0 blitz. Rock, considered befitting of her namesake, started it all with a spectacular driving scoop layup that she spun off the board into the hoop.
That was just the beginning of the end.
“When we started 6-0 to start the second half we looked pretty good,” Cajon coach Mark Lehman said. “But then they got eight straight so we called timeout to slow it down. Then they got eight more and that was pretty much the knockout. That was the story.”
Said Clarendon: “We came back from the early run, but couldn’t overcome the second. You’re not going to win any game giving up 16 straight normally, especially against a team like that.
Even after a jumper by Arkansas-bound Darshae Burnside (13 points, game-high 10 rebounds) stopped the run, Taylor Spears swooped in for a deuce and Mosqueda-Lewis drilled a pretty baseline jumper to extend the lead to 51-40.
Cajon never gave up and closed to within five points three different times, but Mosqueda-Lewis was too determined in the fourth when she scored 11 of her team’s 13 points.
“We knew Cajon was never going to give up,” she said. “We had to persevere.”
Asked if she had made up her mind to score in the second half, Mosqueda-Lewis said: “Scoring is definitely one of my roles on the team. We didn’t need me to score in the first half but when the shots weren’t falling in the second we had to try something else.”
Kiernan hopes this leads to something else the Monarchs have never done – win a Southern Section crown. And possibly more. If they run the table, a mythical national crown is obviously in the works.
They are ranked No. 1 nationally by virtually every media outlet, something that Kiernan does his own wincing at. Better than Clarendon.
“We’re not a really tough proven CIF championship team,” he said. “This is our first go-around at this. But tonight was a big first step.”
Mater Dei 64, Cajon 56
Cajon 8 24 12 12 - 56
Mater Dei 20 11 20 13 - 64
CAJON (23-2): Ebony James 2-3 0-0 5, Sophia Bhasin 0-2 0-0 0, Kori Walker 3-7 0-0 6, Layshia Clarendon 8-17 10-11 28, Darshae Burnside 5-9 3-4 13, Maya Darby 1-5 2-2 4. Totals 19-43 15-17 56.
MATER DEI (25-0): Kathryn Haugen 3-8 0-1 8, Jordan Adams 2-6 1-2 5, Alex Thomas 0-0 0-0 0, Taylor Spears 1-4 0-0 2, Lauren Rock 2-3 1-1 5, Alexyz Vaioletama 6-11 0-0 13, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis 9-19 2-3 21, Mya Oliver 3-4 0-0 6, Jessica Duart 1-2 2-2 4. Totals 27-60 6-9 64.
3-pointers: James, Clarendon 2, Haugen 2, Vaioletama, Mosqueda-Lewis. Rebounds: Cajon 28 (Burnside 10), Mater Dei 29 (Mosqueda-Lewis, Rock, 6). Turnovers: Cajon 24, Mater Dei 19.
FOOTHILL 57, LONG BEACH WILSON 32
USC-bound Christina Marinacci, a highly skilled and lethal 6-1 scorer, drilled four 3-pointers and scored a game-high 27 points in limited minutes as the Knights improved to 23-1.
A team right on the verge of cracking the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 national ranking, Foothill raced to a 33-14 halftime lead and was really never threatened while winning big for the second straight night.
Marinacci also had a game-high nine rebounds and impressive Davis-bound 6-foot point guard Blair Shinoda added 11 points and eight assists, seven coming in the first half.
Shinoda and Marinacci have played on the same teams since the second grade and are totally in synch. Same goes for seven Foothill seniors, which makes this team extremely dangerous for a possible CIF Division III state title.
First things first. The Knights haven’t won a Southern Section crown since 1985 and were last in a Section finals in 1999, losing big to nationally-ranked Brea-Olinda, which handed Foothill its only loss this season, 71-59 on Jan. 10 in overtime.
Marinacci fouled out with two minutes left in regulation of that one.
“If she doesn’t foul out, who knows, maybe we’re still undefeated,” Foothill coach Bill Seibert said. “It doesn’t really matter. We’ve been just about perfect all season because every one on this team is unselfish and the team chemistry is awesome. They all know their roles and carry them out. They’re just solid.”
With 13 returners from last year, the Knights have been a marked team all year.
“We have a bulls eye on our back and that’s just fine,” he said. “We have to have that mentality to remember that and keep us sharp.”
Seibert takes a lot of pride in the fact that his team is basically all home grown.
“We’re probably one of the few top teams in the state that all grew up together,” he said. “We have had no transfers. Everyone at the school belongs there.”
That will make the Knights’ stretch drive all that more pointed, Marinacci said.
“We’re appreciating each and every moment because we are so close,” she said. “It serves as motivation not to want our season to end.”
Said Shinoda: “Everyone just meshes. If we just play together and really focus on defense we can go all the way.”
Foothill has allowed just 90 points in its last three games. Wilson, which got 12 points from Ciarra Ford and 11 by Tiffany Bailey, scored in double digits only in the third quarter with 10 points.
“If we continue to do all the little things then anything is possible,” said sophomore guard Paulina Solis.
Foothill 57, Long Beach Wilson 32
Foothill 19 14 14 10 - 57
Wilson 8 6 10 8 - 32
FOOTHILL (23-1): Christina Marinacci 9-18 5-7 27, Jessica Cross 0-1 0-0 0, Paulina Solis 1-6 0-0 3, Blair Shinoda 4-10 3-4 11, Adriana Hidalgo 1-1 0-0 2, Makenzie Hirz 2-6 1-3 5, Stephanie Larson 1-4 0-0 2, Kelli Shimizu 2-3 0-2 5, Laurel fiddler 1-6 0-0 2, Camille Sabino 0-1 0-0 0, Molly Greubel 0-4 0-0 0, Jessica Greubel 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 21-62 9-16 57.
WILSON (9-16): Ciarra Ford 3-16 4-8 12, Jazmyne Porter 0-13 1-2 1, Tiffany Bailey 4-7 3-4 11, Shamira Fields 2-3 0-0 4, Cheyanne Butler 2-7 0-2 4, Jazzlyn Watson 0-2 0-0 0, Victoria Debose 0-3 0-1 0, Delisha Brand 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 11-54 6-17 32.
3-pointers: Marinacci 4, Solis, Shimizu, Ford 2. Rebounds: Foothill 45 (Marinacci 9), Wilson 44 (Brand 9). Turnovers: Foothill 8, Wilson 15.
SANTA MARGARITA 69, VILLA PARK 66
In a terrifically even matchup, Santa Margarita simply had too much Melissa Zornig, a 5-8 junior, who tied a season high with 33 points and eight rebounds. Zornig came in averaging 23 points per game.
Teammate Madison McKenney added 16 as Santa Margarita improved to 13-10. Brianna Salvatore had 23, Nicole Ballestero 17 and Connie Ballestero 11 for Villa Park (17-7), which went on a 15-6 run in the second quarter but couldn’t slow down Santa Margarita in the second half.
A jumper by McKenney gave the Eagles a 64-63 lead with 1:14 left. A free throw and free throw by Zornig increased the lead to 67-63 before a 3-pointer by Connie Ballestero closed it to 67-66. Zornig made two more free throws with 0.9 left and the Spartans actually got a decent shot off, an uncontested half-court shot by Connie Ballestero, but it was just off the mark.
Santa Margarita 69, Villa Park 66
Santa Margarita 21 6 21 21 - 69
Villa Park 15 15 13 23 - 66
SANTA MARGARITA (13-10): Alyssa Ferraro 1-3 0-0 2, Kiley Berlinski 3-5 0-0 8, Madison McKenney 6-12 2-2 16, Alexis King 0-2 2-4 2, Melissa Zornig 11-24 8-9 33, Lauren Spraker 1-3 0-0 3, Elise Lorenz 1-3 3-4 5. Totals 23-52 15-19 69.
VILLA PARK ( 17-7): Brittany Bauman 0-1 0-0 0, Jenni Calderon 3-4 0-0 7, Janai Ruiz 1-1 0-0 2, Shomari McCorkie 0-2 2-2 2, Brianna Salvatore 7-18 4-6 23, Nicole Ballestero 7-16 2-2 17, Connie Ballestero 3-11 4-7 11, Mykayla Harris 2-5 0-1 4. Totals 23-58 12-18 66.
3-pointers: Berlinski 2, McKenney 2, Zornig 3, Spraker, Calderon, Salvatore 5, N. Ballestero, C. Ballestero. Rebounds: Santa Margarita 33 (Lorenz 9), Villa Park 32 (Harris 10). Turnovers: Santa Margarita 14, Villa Park 12.
ST. PAUL 70, DANA HILLS 42
After falling behind 14-9 after one quarter, the Swordsmen went on a 43-17 tear in the middle quarters to win going away and improve to 15-8. Jazlyn Afusia, a 5-6 senior, had 23 points for the winners and teammate Andrina Rendon, a 5-8 junior, added 20 points and a game-high 16 rebounds.
St. Paul dominated the boards with a 39-24 edge over the Dolphins (13-11), who got a game-high 25 points from Lauren Shute, a 6-3 junior post.
St. Paul 70, Dana Hills 42
Dana Hills 14 8 9 11 - 42
St. Paul 9 20 23 18 – 70
DANA HILLS (13-11): Kristi Nishihira 0-3 0-0 0, Lauren Shute 10-18 4-7 25, Katherine Chastain 1-1 0-0 2, Kaitlyn Waterbury 0-2 0-0 0, Olivia Winokur 1-11 2-4 4, Haley Nordbak 3-5 0-0 9, Allyson Ward 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 16-43 6-11 42.
ST. PAUL (15-8): Marissa Rendon 3-5 0-0 8, Brittini Tapia 1-6 0-0 2, Andrina Rendon 9-16 0-0 20, Stephanie Rodriguez 0-1 2-4 2, Marsala Cassiano 1-2 0-0 2, Angela Van Sickel 3-7 0-0 6, Aubrey Formano 1-2 0-0 2, Skye Savini 2-8 1-2 5, Jazlyn Afusia 8-16 4-6 23. Totals 28-63 7-12 70.
3-pointers: Shute, Nordbak 3, M. Rendon 2, A. Rendon 2, Afusia 3. Rebounds: Dana Hills 24 (Shute 8), St. Paul 39 (A. Rendon 16). Turnovers: Dana Hills 23, St. Paul 13.
BOYS BASKETBALL
JSERRA 61, DOS PUEBLOS 60 (OT)
Ross Davidson, a 6-7 senior post, made a layup that rolled around the rim with 1.9 seconds left in overtime to give JSerra (12-13) the victory.
San Diego State-bound Alec Williams, a 6-6 senior forward, led all scorers with 25 while Davidson and Taylor Wetherell had 11 points each for the winners. Dos Pueblos, which dropped to 11-13, didn’t get a final shot off.
Stay tuned for live updates throughout Saturday. E-mail Mitch Stephens at mstephens@maxpreps.com.
