| | Published March 26th, 2014
| Girls Qualify Two Teams to State TourneyMats reach regional finals
| | By Conrad Bassett |  | | Ashley Ewing Photos Gint Federas |
Two Lamorinda teams were selected to participate in the CIF Northern California girls' basketball championships. Campolindo was the No. 7 seed in Division III and Miramonte was the No. 6 seed in the Open Division.
The Cougars fell in their opener at Soquel High in Santa Cruz, 74 to 66. Coach Art Thoms was proud of what the team accomplished this season. "We reached two of our goals by making the NCS and Norcal playoffs. We are going to miss our seniors Ashley Ewing, Meghan Adachi and Sierra Regan."
The Cougars finished with a 17-12 record.
Over in Orinda, the Matadors concluded their regular season with the DFAL title, swept through the NCS with a title and were then selected to take a road trip through the top tier of Northern California teams in the Open division. The Mats took two road games before falling in the Regional Finals to Salesian.
Their first trip was to Delta College in Stockton where they beat St. Mary's (Stockton) 94-79.
The Mats employed their ferocious press and deep bench and pushed out to a 24-16 lead after one period and led by seven when sophomore Keana Delos Santos went on a personal 7-0 run to double the lead - all in about 20 seconds. She nailed a three from the corner followed by a layup and then a steal and another layup.
Sophomore Sabrina Ionescu led all scorers with 31, senior Mariah Seals added 15 and Delos Santos finished with 14.
With the win, the Mats advanced to face Carondolet before a loud and packed crowd.
Coach Kelly Sopak and the team were thrilled with the community support. "It was so cool the last two weeks to see the tremendous support. It really means a lot to the kids and coaches. Heck, I even tried to fire them up near the end of the game. The fans were very much a part of both wins here in Nor Cal."
The game was tightly contested from the beginning. Carondolet had their biggest lead of the game at 30-23 when an unsung player came off the bench for the Mats. Freshman Elle Louie hit a corner three point shot and then a second one a few minutes later to get the Mats back in the game.
Coach Kelly Sopak remarked, "Elle is a tremendous player. She makes a lot of active plays that sometimes don't get credited as a stat. Tonight she stepped up and delivered some big shots and timely rebounds. She has come a long way."
Miramonte had a 43-40 lead at the half.
The game was tied at 80-80 with 2:32 to go. Louie hit a free throw to give the Mats the lead with 1:44 to go - a lead they would not relinquish as Ionescu hit six clutch free throws in the last minute to seal the 92-87 win.
"I don't really think about the makes or the misses. In our system, I have the green light to make plays and fortunately tonight I started to feel it late in the game," said Ionescu.
Ionescu led the team with 33 points and Seals added 23.
These wins led to a rematch, at Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento on March 22, with Salesian (Richmond), who had handed Miramonte its only loss of the regular season.
The Pride pulled out to a large early lead and the Mats came back, but not quite enough and lost the CIF Northern California championship game 78 to 64. Ionescu led all scorers with 23.
Miramonte finished with a 30-2 record.
"To make the Nor Cal championship in the Open bracket is just an amazing feat for this school and community," said Sopak. "I am extremely proud to have coached this team."
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 | | Megan Adachi |  | | Keana Delos Santos |  | | Mariah Seals | | | | | |
Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA