| | Published March 14th, 2012
| Miramonte Plays in NorCal Semifinals, Acalanes Falls in First Round
| | By Conrad Bassett |  | | Carly Gill Photos Kevin Nguyen
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Two of the three local high school girls' basketball teams advanced to the CIF Northern California championships--the Acalanes Dons and the Miramonte Matadors.
Acalanes headed down to Modesto to take on Modesto Christian on March 7. The Dons qualified for the game by reaching the NCS semifinals where they lost to Bishop O'Dowd, 60-23.
The Dons struggled to bounce back from the Bishop O'Dowd drumming, and fell to Modesto, 60-48.
Acalanes was led by senior Sophie Taylor. Taylor had 20 points while junior Marie Paladino added 11 points and seven assists. The Dons finished the season with a 15-14 record.
Coach Chris Russell felt very good about how his team progressed throughout the year. "I'm really proud of what we accomplished this year. Considering I met my team two weeks before tryouts, I think we should all be proud of what the Lady Dons accomplished."
Miramonte hosted Vanden in the NorCal opener on March 7.
Miramonte earned the NorCal berth by reaching the NCS finals on March 3 at McKeon Pavilion The Mats took on Bishop O'Dowd and suffered their first loss of the season, 73-49.
The NorCal opener remained close at halftime. The Mats led, 24-22. The second half was all Miramonte as they built a 20 point lead to win, 66-45.
Junior Carly Gill and sophomore Breanna Alford led a balanced Lady Mat attack with 13 apiece while senior Taylor Kizziee and sophomore Megan Reid added 12 and 11, respectively.
Coach Kelly Sopak was pleased with the effort and the bounce back win. "The first 20-30 seconds of the half I could tell we had our swagger back as the kids were flying to the ball. That made the difference for us."
With the win, the Mats advanced to the second round of the CIF tournament where they traveled to play Sacred Heart Cathedral. Playing before a large and loud home crowd, SHC jumped off to a 9-4 lead early in the first period. The Mats fought back and kept the game close through the first.
At the beginning of the second period, Gill stole the ball and made a layup and the Mats had a lead they would never give up. The Mats went on a couple of runs as part of a 30 point period and built a 43-29 halftime lead.
In the second half, the Irish never got closer than eight on the way to a Mats' 76-61 win. The victory was Miramonte's 30th on the season.
Senior Janine Loutzenhiser finished with 16 points to lead all scorers.
"I missed some shots early, but I knew that if we executed our offense I would have some more opportunities. Our team ran our plays well and I was able to make good shots," Loutzenhiser said.
Kizziee finished with 14 points, Gill added 13 and sophomore Allison Miller tossed in ten.
Their reward was a trip to Sacramento last night to play the second seed, Sacramento High on the road. Please visit Lamorindaweekly.com for the results.
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 | | Taylor Kizziee
|  | | Breanna Alford
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA