SoCalHoops High School News

CIF SoCal State Regional Girls' Semifinals:
Game Scores & Details--(March 10, 2000)

All of the boys state semifinal games (with the exception of the Division I games) were played last night; the finals are all on Saturday for the Southern Regional titles, and the right to represent the Southern California area in Sacramento in the State Finals a week from this weekend. There were a couple of HUGE upsets yesterday, among them most notably when the No. 2 team in the State, Artesia was knocked by Bakersfield Foothill; as you'll read from the details, there were reasons extraneous to the game which might have altered the outcome had Artesia been at full strength, but that's not to take away anything from what Foothill accomplished with the win.  We weren't actually in attendance at that game (we went to Bishop Montgomery and saw the Knights beat Centennial in a D-III semifinal) but from what we understand this was a pretty exciting game (unless you're a Pioneers fan).  In any event, here are the results from all of the Southern Regional games from last night together with a look at the individual brackets for each of these divisions (Southern Regionals only).   For a look at the entire State Tournament brackets, use this link.

Division II Girls Southern Regional Semifinals

Brea Olinda 61, Santee Santana 38--The Brea Olinda girls basketball team got back to business with a 61-38 victory against Santana of Santee on Thursday night in the semifinals of the Division II Southern California Regionals at Santana High. The Ladycats earned a rematch with Redondo Union on Saturday at The Forum at 4:45 p.m. Redondo Union ended Brea Olinda's streak of 11 consecutive CIF Southern Section titles last week, and the Ladycats didn't hide the fact that that was on their minds Thursday. Second-seeded Brea Olinda had little trouble with the third-seeded Sultans (27-5), the Division II champions of the San Diego section. Trotter gave Brea Olinda the lead for good with a basket to make it 8-6 in the first quarter. Santana pulled to within 17-14 in the second period before Reena Gonzales capped a 14-4 run that gave Brea a 30-18 halftime lead. Robyn Phillips' basket gave the Ladycats (27-6) a 50-30 lead with less than five minutes remaining. Brea Olinda coach Jeff Sink kept four of his five starters in until 2:33 remained. Trotter and junior guard Jackie Lord each scored 17 points, and Phillips added 10. BREA OLINDA 61: Trotter 17, Lord 17, Phillips 10, Hefferly 9, Bonnewitz 2, Gonzales 4, Glenn 2 SANTANA 38: Turpin 10, Ransom 4, Sutton 12, Wynne 10, Bennett 2 Brea Olinda 10 20 14 17--61; Santana 8 10 12  8--38; Three point-goals--Brea 4 (Lord 3, Hefferly); San 1 (Sutton); Records: Brea 27-6; Santee 27-5

Redondo Union 60, San Diego University 35--Ofa Tulikihihifo scored 18 points and had 10 rebounds for the Sea Hawks in the victory at home. Jackie Packard scored 11 points and Danielle Payne added 10 points and eight rebounds for Redondo Union.  Redondo Union led, 17-8, at the end of the first quarter and 31-15 at halftime. Despite Tiah Gray's 11 points and Theresa Lischer's six blocks and seven rebounds, University City just didn't have enough. Breezy Ambort had eight points, four assists and four steals for the Centurions (24-9). 

Division III Girls Southern Regional Semifinals

Bishop Montgomery 90, Alemany 64--The Knights, a young, fast team that features a suffocating and unrelenting defense, never allowed Alemany much of a chance, beating the Indians 90-64 on Thursday night in a Southern Regional Division III semifinal game at Bishop Montgomery of Torrance. Bishop Montgomery eliminated Alemany from the state playoffs for the third time in the past nine seasons, and the early minutes of the second quarter removed all doubt that the Knights would advance to face either Kearny of San Diego or Rosary of Fullerton in Saturday's regional final. Alemany trailed by four points with two minutes remaining in the first quarter, but Bishop Montgomery went on a 20-2 run and never looked back.  The Knights built the lead to as much as 32 points in the third quarter. Alemany finishes the season at 24-7. The Knights have four legitimate scorers--Freshmen Lauren Erwin and Noel Quinn dominated under the basket, scoring 17 and 13 points, respectively. Erwin also had 10 rebounds. Brittney Thomas added 14 points. Point guard Tamara Quinn, Bishop Montgomery's only senior starter had 24 points.  Kate Beckler carried the Indians, and at one point had scored 21 of the team's 33 points. Beckler totaled 34 points to go with seven rebounds and four steals, but the Knights seemed content to let her shoot away and simply shut down the rest of the Indians. Karina Siam scored 12 points and Alma Sandoval added 10 for the Indians, who consistently rushed shots under the basket for fear of blocks.
The Knights forced 30 turnovers.

San Diego Kearney 59, Fullerton Rosary 48--Kearny (18-13) defeated Fullerton Rosary 59-48 in the CIF Southern California Regional semifinals. The Komets play top-seeded Torrance Bishop Montgomery in the final tomorrow.   After a 33-point performance in the first round, senior center Triola Alexander, finished the final home game of her career with 34 points against Rosary and 16 rebounds. Alexander dominated the first quarter, scoring 11 of her team's first 18 points. Rosary, which thought the pump fake would fake out Kearny's defense, was stifled by the size of Kearny's backcourt and only made two field goals and three free throws in the first eight minutes.  Rosary tried to cut the lead in the second quarter by stepping up the defense. The Royals came alive, breaking up passes, causing turnovers and swatting balls, but for every defensive save, Rosary was unable to convert the success into points.   Rosary did cut Kearny's lead to nine at the start of the final quarter. However, freshman guard Latasha Lewis got over her pregame upset stomach to make a three and follow it with two fastbreak layups and a short jumper.  In the final two minutes, Kearny collected three big blocks, and although junior guard Jenise Karcher put in a three at the buzzer for Rosary, the effort was too late.  Karcher finished with a team-high 15 points for Rosary, while Lewis was Kearny's second leading scorer with 14 points.   The Royals (23-11) didn't score until 3:07 was left in the first quarter and by then were in a 12-0 hole. During that span, Rosary had a shot-clock violation, three turnovers, two airballs, two missed free throws and a shot blocked. Rosary closed the gap to eight points several times in the second after trailing 28-17 at halftime. An early flurry in the second half could have propelled the Royals back in the game, but the second of its untimely lapses occurred. Rosary went more than three minutes without scoring, while Alexander pumped in eight on an array of fall-away jumpers and drives to the hoop. It put the Komets (18-13) ahead 36-17 and put the game out of reach. Maggie Barnett struggled all evening with her shooting and finished with nine points. She failed to connect on any three-pointers, a staple for her. Jen Farner, who played all 32 minutes, and Jenise Karcher scored 13 points each to lead the Royals. ROSARY--Barnett 9, Karcher 13, O'Connell 6, Farner 13, Meyer 2, Sonoda 3, Asensio 2. KEARNEY--Lewis 14, Washington 4, Cokley 5, Brown 2, Alexander 32, McDonald 2. Rosary Tree-pointers: Rosary 3 (Karcher 3); Kearny 2 (Lewis 1, Alexander 1) Fouled out: Sonoda (R).  Technicals Karcher (R), Washington (K). Records: Rosary 23-11; Kearney18-13

Division IV Girls Southern Regional Semifinals

La Jolla Bishop's School 46, Morro Bay 22--Kirsten Grimm scored 23 points to propel Bishop's to the Regional final for the second year in a row as it dominated visiting Morro Bay 46-22.  Grimm scored 18 of her team's 24 first-half points, including all nine of the Knights' second-quarter points. She did most of the damage from three-point range, hitting five on the night -- four in the first half.   Defensively, Bishop's (27-1) held Morro Bay (17-8) to two points in both the second and the fourth quarters. Amy Dieckmann and Brianna Winn each added eight points for the Knights, who play Playa del Rey St. Bernard in the final at the Long Beach Pyramid tomorrow.

St. Bernard 66, Valley Christian Cerritos 57--Valley Christian' s run for the state title ended with a 66-57 loss to the Vikings in a second-round game of the Division IV CIF Southern California regional at St. Forward Jamila Veasley, the lone senior, and sophomore center Susie Boogaard had 22 points each and combined for 15 rebounds for Valley Christian, which concluded its season 25-7. Veasley drew her third foul just before the first quarter ended and had to leave the game with the Crusaders trailing, 15-11. But Valley Christian couldn't afford to keep her out long and she returned with the Crusaders behind, 23-13, in the second quarter. They trailed, 33-23, at the half, but an assist from Veasley to Boogaard for a basket brought Valley Christian within one point (42-41) with 2:44 to play in the third period. However, the Crusaders couldn't slow down the quicker Vikings, who went on a 10-3 run to lead, 52-44, at the 7:41 mark of the fourth, and never led by less than four thereafter. Sophomore guard Alexis Kendrick had 21 points and 6 rebounds, and Shannon Howell had 19 for St. Bernard (21-6), which advances to the regional final at the Pyramid Saturday.  

Divison V Girls Southern Regional Semifinals

Pilgrim 55, Central Valley Christian 46--Pilgrim of Los Angeles utilized a pressing defense and a balanced scoring attack to defeat Central Valley Christian 55-46 Thursday in a Southern California Regional Division 5 girls' basketball semifinal game at Daniel Murphy High.  The Patriots (29-2) advance to the regional final, scheduled for Saturday at The Pyramid at Long Beach State. Pilgrim will face either Mission Prep of San Luis Obispo or Santa Fe Christian of San Diego. Central Valley Christian ends the season 24-4.  But the Cavaliers came out tentative early and Pilgrim the Southern Section Division 5-A champions took advantage and built a 17-4 lead near the end of the first quarter.  Trailing 30-17 at halftime, Central Valley Christian came out on fire in the third quarter and whittled Pilgrim's lead to 32-25 following a tap-in off her own miss by Katrina Anker with 2 minutes 36 seconds left.   But that was as close as the Cavaliers would get as the Patriots rattled off 10 straight points, eight by senior Danielle Carter, to lead 42-25 at the end of the third quarter.  Central Valley Christian outscored the Patriots 21-13 in the final quarter. CVC committed 21 turnovers and shot 44% (22 of 50) from the field. The Patriots outrebounded the Cavaliers 28-23.  Anker led all scorers with 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and Loren Ballou added 16 points and five rebounds.

Santa Fe Christian 59, Mission Prep 55--Brandi Collato scored 19 of her 38 points in the fourth quarter to power No. 4 seed Santa Fe Christian past top-seeded Mission Prep of San Luis Obispo 59-55 at Cal Poly.  In a game neither team led by more than six points, Collato hit 11-of-11 free throws in the final quarter to keep the Eagles (29-5) in command. Collato hit 14-of-14 free throws for the game and held Mission Prep's season scoring leader, Natalie Beltran, to 10 points.   Kelly Bull and Amanda Gilcrease, who grabbed nine rebounds, provided tough interior defense for Santa Fe Christian. The Eagles play Los Angeles Pilgrim for the regional championship tomorrow at the Pyramid.

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