The high school winter sports season finally closed for South County teams after the Mater Dei Catholic girls basketball team suffered elimination in last Saturday’s Southern California regional championship game.
The ninth-seeded Crusaders fell, 53-50, at sixth-seeded Fullerton Sunny Hills. Mater Dei Catholic ended its season 22-14 while Sunny Hills improved to 24-12.
Sunny Hills will play Northern California regional champion Sacramento West Campus (28-7) in Friday’s state championship game. Tip-off is 2 p.m. at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
It could easily have been the Crusaders advancing.
Mater Dei Catholic led, 24-14, at halftime but the San Diego Section Division I runners-up lost standout Chloe Webb for two quarters due to foul trouble.
“That kind of stalled our offense,” Crusader coach David Monroe said.
Mater Dei Catholic, which won the 2009 state title, had upset three higher-seeded teams in advancing through the state playoffs in what looked like a repeat journey. Monroe said his team, which did not include any seniors on its roster, had worked hard to get to the regional championship game.
“Our season was like a roller coaster,” Monroe said. “We started slow, the girls were trying to figure each other out, basically trying to find the right combination. We found our stride mid- season, the girls started to click with each other on the court.
“It basically boiled down to our youthfulness. With no seniors and three freshmen, you expect some challenges. However, this season was a success; it’s not how you start, but how you finish.
“I always knew the potential was there for our team to go deep into the playoffs and we put it together at the right time. I am so proud of them.”
It was no secret that Webb was an integral part of the Mater Dei Catholic team. She led the team in scoring (20.1 points per game), rebounding (10.2 per game), assists (2.9 per game) and steals (2.6 per game).
However, she picked up her fourth foul at the start of the third quarter and, without her rebounding ability, in particular, Sunny Hills was able to make an offensive comeback in the game.
The Fullerton team tied the game, 33-33, at the end of the third quarter and eventually nosed ahead, 43-42, on the scoreboard in the fourth quarter.
The Crusaders, who did the best they could without their leader in the lineup, went up 50-49 late in the game.
However, Jessica Barrow, Sunny Hills’ top scorer in the game with 24 points, scored on a driving lay-up with 48 seconds to play and later added a pair of free throws with 23 seconds left to account for the game-winning points in the contest.
Sophomore Marissa Sanchez led Mater Dei Catholic with 18 points.
Webb, a junior, finished the game with 11 points. She was limited to just six minutes of playing time in the first half due to foul trouble but came off the bench to score eight points in the fourth quarter.
But it proved not to be enough.
Sanchez finished the season with a 14.4 ppg scoring average while junior Hailey Dominguez ranked third on the team with a 7.3 ppg scoring average.
Southern California Regional Playoffs
BOYS BASKETBALL
Division I
Wednesday, March 7
(6) Chino Hills 69, (11) Mater Dei Catholic 54
Division V
Wednesday, March 7
(11) Southwest 59, (6) La Puente 53
Saturday, March 10
(11) Southwest 63, (3) Nogales (La Puente) 62
Tuesday, March 13
(7) Van Nuys 72, (11) Southwest 52
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Division III
Wednesday, March 7
(1) Bonita Vista 72, (16) Hamilton (Los Angeles) 54
(9) Mater Dei Catholic 78, (8) Flintridge Prep 55
Saturday, March 10
(9) Mater Dei Catholic 75, (1) Bonita Vista 67
Tuesday, March 13
(9) Mater Dei Catholic 71, (5) Mission Oak (Tulare) 50
Saturday, March 17
(6) Fullerton Sunny Hills 53, (9) Mater Dei Catholic 50
Division IV
Wednesday, March 7
(3) Eastlake 75, (14) Providence (Burbank) 36
Saturday, March 10
(6) Rolling Hills Prep 81, (3) Eastlake 48
GIRLS SOCCER
Division I
Tuesday, March 6
(5) Santa Margarita 2, (4) Eastlake 0
Division IV
Tuesday, March 6
(1) Paloma Valley 10, (8) Mater Dei Catholic 0
