California Girls State Championships: No. 6 Mater Dei girls romp

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - As if Mater Dei (Santa Ana) High School's girls basketball team hadn't already shown it was totally in sync, came this scene following its complete and thorough 57-40 California Division I championship win over Berkeley Saturday at Power Balance Pavilion.

With four-year starting point guard and McDonald's All-American Jordan Adams carrying the championship trophy, the Monarchs had just finished a press conference and walked down a wide tunnel leading back to their locker room when they spontaneously broke into chant.

“We are Mater Dei,” the voices said in unison. “We’re back-to-back-to-back state champions.”

And they said it again.

They weren’t screaming or yelling or trying to impress anyone. After all, there was no one else in the service tunnel below the stands, and no one else could hear.

“You always want to go out with a bang and with a win,” said Adams in the press conference.

She did her part with 13 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks. But she spoke with satisfaction, not arrogance.

Alexas Williamson had 16 points and shut down Berkeley star Elisha Davis, holding her to two-of-12 shooting and helped force her into seven turnovers.

“I was just trying to contain her,” was all the credit Williamson would take. "She's a real good player. She's so skilled and so fast. When she beat me, I had teammates there to pick me up."

Nirra Fields has been there all year. The team's other Gatorade All-American and Gatorade State Player of the Year capped off a superb senior season with 24 points, nine rebounds and six assists.

The transfer from Oak Hill Academy and native of Canada whose legal guardian is Lakers' coach Mike Brown refused to accept the role of star, despite scoring eight points in a 14-2 second quarter run that basically determined the outcome.

"In my first three years I've been the main player but on this team we have so many other options," she said. "I'm just so happy. It's an unexplainable feeling."

Berkeley had started strong, and led 16-15 after one quarter, with Rachel Howard (team-high 12 points) scoring five quickly. But the Yellowjackets managed just 10 points combined over the next two quarters.

"They changed their defense a little bit, and forced our offense to go to the left a bit more," Berkeley coach Cheryl Draper, whose team finished 29-3. " We got a little stagnant after that and started missing our a ton of layups. I think we made adjustments, too, but just couldn't get our shots to fall."

Said Davis: "Our confidence wasn't shaken, we just couldn't finish open shots. But I think the end of the game for us was when we stopped playing our defense."

Mater Dei coach Kevin Kiernan, who won his sixth state title and third with Mater Dei, said the game turned when his team turned up the heat defensively.

"We started guarding some people," he said. "We were just trading baskets, which was better than last year when were just giving them baskets. I felt that in the second and third quarters we were playing the type of defense that we know we can play."

How special was this championship?

“They’re all different and special,” he said. “It's like your kids. They're all different buy you love them all the same. ... These girls deserved it.”

Mater Dei 57, Berkeley 40

MATER DEI (34-3)
Jordan Adams 4-11 4-8 13, Alexas Williamson 7-14 2-2 16, Nirra Fields 7-14 10-10 24, Kalia Powell 1-4 0-0 2, Kau'ilani Miki-han 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 20-51 16-20 57.

BERKELEY (40)
Desire Finnie 2-3 0-0 4, Rachel Howard 5-9 0-0 12, Jasmin Guinn 2-11 2-6 7, Elisa Davis 2-12 6-6 10, Garysha Youngblood 2-13 0-0 4, Janee Gooden 1-5 0-0 2, Janamon Welch-Coleman 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 14-55 9-14 40.

Mater Dei  15  14  12  16  -  57
Berkeley    16   2    8   14  -  40

3-point goals: Mater Dei 1-13 (Adams), Berkeley 3-11 (Howard 2, Tuinn). Rebounds: Mater Dei 40 (Adams 11), Berkeley 37 (Davis 9). Turnovers: Mater Dei 14, Berkeley 16.

DIVISION III: Bishop O'Dowd 62, Laguna Hills 24 Bishop O'Dowd (Oakland) coach Malik McCord admits to being a tough grader, but even he was impressed with his team's performance Saturday.

Behind a suffocating defense that produced 26 turnovers and limited Laguna Hills to a CIF record-low 24 points, Bishop O'Dowd captured the first state title in school history - one year after falling in the state finals to St. Joseph (Santa Maria).

But was the performance good enough to get high marks from McCord?

"I would have to give this one an A," McCord said with a smile. "But this is the only A I've given them all year. Last year's performance was a C-, for them and for the coaches. Today it started with the defense. We came out and played defense like I know we can."

The Dragons (30-3) were never in trouble after opening a 10-0 lead in the first quarter. Laguna Hills (26-9) shot just 23 percent in the first half and had 17 turnovers by the break.

"The experience of being here before had a big part in that," said McCord about the strong start. "Last year we had that deer in the headlights look. This year we came out and we were used to it. You could see it in the girls last night and earlier today."

The difference proved to be Bishop O'Dowd's edge in speed and size. The guard trio of Ariell Bostick, Aisia Robertson and Randi Jackson combined for 10 steals and the Dragons outrebounded Laguna Hills as a team 42-21.

"They just had too much size and too much speed," said Laguna Hills coach Jim Martin. "They would be a very good Division I school down in the Southern Section. They are the best team we've seen this year."

Besides the size and speed advantage, McCord also pointed out his team's depth. All 11 players scored for the Dragons while only three scored for the Lady Hawks.

"I don't think you will find many playoff teams that played every one of their girls in every game," said McCord. "We just wore (Laguna Hills) out. All of the girls scored tonight. All of them contributed."

Kendall Waters led the Dragons with 14 points. She also added 12 rebounds to lead in the team in that category. Robertson was second with 13 points. Celia Marfone had 12 points for Laguna Hills and Maddy Ziering-Smith had 10.


Bishop O'Dowd 62, Laguna Hills 24

BISHOP O'DOWD (30-3)

Ariell Bostick 2-6 0-0 4, Aisia Robertson 5-12 1-2 13, Randi Jackson 2-2 0-0 4, Oderah Chidom 4-10 0-2 8, Kendall Waters 6-11 2-4 14, Asha Thomas 2-3 0-0 5, Alex Kalmbach 1-1 0-0 2, Margaret Huntington 1-3 0-0 2, Megan Branscum 2-3 0-0 5, Alexandria White 1-2 0-0 3, Breanna Brown 0-1 2-2 2. Totals 26-54 5-10 62.

LAGUNA HILLS (26-9)

Maddy Ziering-Smith 2-8 6-6 10, Jenna Bonutto 0-2 0-0 0, Brooke Shimazaki 1-4 0-0 2, Anna Mumm 0-4 0-0 0, Celia Marfone 4-19 4-4 12, Christina King 0-0 0-0 0, Cheyenne Berbey 0-1 0-0 0, Karissa Ty 0-0 0-0 0, Julie Le 0-0 0-0 0, Harumy Pardo 0-0 0-0 0, Lindsey Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Aaleah Brown 0-1 0-0 0, Glynis Chua 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 7-39 10-10 24.

Laguna Hills 6 8 8 2 - 24
Bishop O'Dowd 18 16 11 17 - 62

3-Pointers: Bishop O'Dowd 5 (Robertson 2, Thomas, Branscum, White), Laguna Hills 0. Rebounds: Bishop O'Dowd 42 (Waters 12), Laguna Hills 21 (King 11). Turnovers: Bishop O'Dowd 21, Laguna Hills 26. DIVISION V: Brookside Christian 70, Mission Prep 64

When Brookside Christian (Stockton, Calif.) coach Que Ngo put together his schedule for the 2011-12 season, he sought out the toughest opponents he could find in the hopes of preparing his team for the postseason and bringing the school its first state championship.

The strategy paid off Saturday for the Knights who captured a CIF Division V title with a 70-64 win over Mission Prep (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) behind a 28-point effort by sophomore guard Tiara Tucker.

"Our goal this year was to win a state championship and anything less would be a humongous failure," said Ngo. "So we had to prepare for high caliber teams by playing tough opponents. These girls always found a way to battle through the tough times and the early morning practices. They were willing to accept the high standards we placed on them."

Tucker put the Knights (30-4) in position to win their first title by scoring eight of her game-high total in the third quarter. She had a four-point play on a three-pointer and a free throw with 5:18 left in the quarter and on the next possession added a three-point play with a layup and a free throw.

"She's pretty clutch," said Mission Prep coach John Krossa. "She's a really good guard and to think she's only a sophomore is even more amazing."

Tucker's efforts, along with a three-point shot by Rauline Martinez and a long two-pointer by Ariana Vaughn at the buzzer, put the Knights up 60-45 heading into the fourth quarter.

Mission Prep didn't back down, however, and it slowly climbed back into the game. Limiting Brookside Christian to just one field goal in the fourth quarter, the Royals made a 19-9 run and cut the Knights' lead to 69-64 with a chance to make it a one-possession game.

However an offensive foul call with 47 seconds remaining gave the ball back to Brookside Christian and Tucker made a free throw with 7.8 seconds left to account for the final margin.

Brookside was able to fend off the Royals with some solid free throw shooting in the final quarter when it made eight of its final total of 14 free throws.

"This is the best we've shot free throws all year," said Ngo.

For Mission Prep, the loss marked the seventh time the Royals have left the state finals without a win. The 0-7 mark is most losses without a win at the state championships with no other team worse than 0-3.

But Krossa wasn't about to dwell on past failures.

"When you look on the wall and see all of those Southern Section championships, the girls want to be a part of that legacy," he said. "This was a great group of girls to work with and our 32-2 record is the best in school history. This is one of the great teams in school history and these girls will be talked about in the future."

Ra'kyra Gabriel added 18 points for the Knights and led the team with seven rebounds. Martinez scored 12 points and had a pair of three-pointers to go with Tucker's three.

Bri Harvey topped Mission Prep with 22 points, followed by Jenna Dunbar with 17 and Connor Storlie with 11. Mission Prep outrebounded Brookside Christian 37-26 but had 24 turnovers to the Knights' 18.


Brookside Christian 70, Mission Prep 64

BROOKSIDE CHRISTIAN (30-4)

Jackie Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Breanna Grigsby 0-3 0-1 0, Ra'kyra Gabriel 8-12 2-3 18, Brianna Smith 3-8 0-0 7, Tiara Tucker 9-17 7-12 28, Rauline Martinez 4-6 2-2 12, Erica Houston 0-0 0-0 0, Halie Schumacher 0-0 0-0 0, Taylor Marshall 0-0 0-0 0, Ariana Vaughn 1-7 3-4 5. Totals 25-53 14-21 70.

MISSION PREP (32-2)

Kaylee Williams 2-6 2-2 6, Jenna Dunbar 6-16 4-7 17, Connor Storlie 11, Morgan Liebscher 2-6 1-2 6, Bri Harvey 5-13 12-12 22, Carly Colvin 0-0 0-0 0, Grace Ready 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 20-50 22-27 64.

Mission Prep 17 11 17 19 - 64
Brookside Christian 12 23 25 10 - 70

3-Pointers: Brookside Christian 6 (Tucker 3, Martinez 2, Smith), Mission Prep 2 (Dunbar, Liebscher). Rebounds: Brookside Christian 26 (Gabriel 7), Mission Prep 37 (Storlie 9, Harvey 9). Turnovers: Brookside Christian 18, Mission Prep 24.