SAN RAFAEL – With simply over six minutes left within the fourth quarter, the St. Ignatius ladies basketball workforce had a nine-point lead and the momentum towards Salesian within the CIF Division I Northern Regional championship recreation Tuesday night time at Dominican College.
However the top-seeded Pleasure jumped a stage in play, each defensively and offensively, and rallied for a 52-48 win and a spot within the Division I state championship recreation on Friday.
“We stored combating,” mentioned Salesian junior Makiah Asidanya, who scored all eight of her factors within the fourth quarter. “I used to be pondering that it wasn’t over and we’ve obtained to maintain enjoying arduous.”
Salesian (20-5) trailed No. 3 St. Ignatius 40-31 with six minutes, 11 seconds left within the fourth quarter. The Wildcats (21-9) had led since halfway by second quarter.
However two free throws by the Pleasure’s Sofia Fidelus began a 21-8 run for Salesian over the ultimate six minutes of the sport. Fidelus scored 12 factors within the recreation, and teammate Silivia Fonongaloa led the Pleasure with 14 factors, together with all 9 of their factors within the third quarter.
“We switched up our protection a bit and obtained extra depth, after which that drove our offense to essentially click on lastly,” mentioned Salesian coach Steve Pezzola about his workforce’s fourth-quarter comeback. “I used to be actually proud of that fourth-quarter effort.”
Salesian, which gained its first Northern Regional championship since 2014, will face Windward-Los Angeles (23-10) within the Division I state championship recreation at Golden 1 Heart in Sacramento on Friday at 6 p.m. The Pleasure ladies basketball program has by no means gained a state title.
“This actually helped us. I really feel like this obtained our vitality up. We’re going to go to state, we’re going to maintain the identical depth,” mentioned Fonongaloa.
On Tuesday night time, the 2 groups had been inside a basket of one another all through the primary quarter, with SI main 11-9 on the finish of it. A basket by the Wildcats’ Claire Untalan gave her workforce a 15-14 lead within the second quarter, and St. Ignatius didn’t let go of the lead till the fourth quarter, because it held benefits of 27-20 at halftime and 38-29 on the finish of the third quarter.
“I assumed we performed our butts off,” St. Ignatius coach Maya Fok mentioned. “We led nearly all of that recreation. It felt actually good. We simply needed to end it off the final 4 minutes.”
Salesian caught the Wildcats on a three-pointer by Asidanya that tied the rating at 42 with 3:51 to play. Two free throws by the Pleasure’s Kaylie Edge gave her workforce the lead for good 31 seconds later, a part of a 9-0 Salesian run that was capped when Edge thew an outlet move three-quarters of the court docket to a wide-open Fonongaloa for a layup and a 48-42 Pleasure benefit.
Sabrina Ma, who scored a game-high 23 factors for St. Ignatius, responded with a three-pointer to chop the result in 48-45 with 1:32 remaining. However a hook within the lane by Edge began a 7-0 Salesian run to finish the sport. Ma, a 5-foot-10 senior, scored at the least 4 factors in each quarter, together with 9 within the third quarter.
St. Ignatius’ Quickly Ja Elzey had a formidable all-around recreation with eight factors, 9 rebounds and three steals. Teammate Jacqueline Acosta added six factors and 6 rebounds.
Salesian’s Nevaeh Asiasi additionally stuffed up the stat sheet with seven factors, 4 assists, three rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Teammate Ariel Anderson added six rebounds.