By Richard Paolinelli
MaxPreps.com
One down and one to go for San Jose's Archbishop Mitty High School.
Both the boys and girls Monarchs' teams captured their respective Northern California Division II basketball championships on Saturday in Stockton. Now, each Central Coast Section squad is just one win away from a state championship.
Mitty's boys teams cruised to a 77-64 win over Jesuit (32-2), the No. 1 ranked team in the entire state and No. 10 in the nation, with a 10-0 run to start the game and a 12-0 run to start the second half. Mitty (29-5) was ranked sixth and finally advanced to the state title game for the first time after snapping a five-game NorCal championship game losing streak.
Mitty will face Santa Ana's Mater Dei (32-4) Saturday at Sacramento's Arco Arena for the state championship.
Center Drew Gordon led the Monarchs with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Mitty's girls squad rolled to a 55-49 win over Pinole Valley to not only capture the NorCal title and advance to a state final matchup Saturday against Brea Olinda (33-1), but the Monarchs (30-4) also avenged last year's playoff loss to Pinole Valley.
Nicole Anderson's 12-point effort helped Mitty capture its seventh NorCal title. The Monarchs will try for their third state title, and first since 1999, at Arco Arena. Mitty's last attempt at a state title came in a 2005 loss to Troy (Fullerton).
Two senior players on Mitty's roster were on that 2005 squad, Oklahoma-bound Danielle Robinson, who scored 11 points in the win over Pinole Valley, and Oregon State-bound Kassandra McCalister, who led Mitty with 15 points in Saturday's win. Both players will be key in Mitty's bid for another state title.
Sacred Heart Cathedral was the third and final CCS team to capture a NorCal title Saturday with a nail-biting 67-66 victory over Sacramento in the Girls Division III championship game.
Tierra Rogers' steal and assist to Lauren Bell for the game-winning layup with less than 10 seconds left gave the Fighting Irish (31-2) the win and a berth in Saturday's state title game against Bishop Amat (27-5).
It will be Sacred Heart Cathederal's second-straight appearance in a state title game - the team won the Girls Division IV championship last year.
Two other CCS teams were vying for NorCal title in Stockton on Saturday but each team came up just short in their bids for a state title.
No. 2-seeded Oak Grove (29-2) battled No. 1-seeded McClymonds (28-3) to the bitter end in the boys Division I NorCal final in the night's finale at Stockton Arena.
McClymonds held off Oak Grove, 69-68, in overtime to advance to the state title game.
Kelly Kaigler led Oak Grove with 19 points, but would have liked to have two more as his last second shot to win the game at the end of overtime rolled off the rim. A follow attempt by Tyree McCrary (16 points) also stayed out to deny Oak Grove the win.
Valley Christian fell to St. Patrick/St. Vincent, 70-57, in the girls Division IV title game despite a 21-point effort by freshman point guard A. J. Newton.
