Girls basketball: Mater Dei wins rubber match vs. Eagles

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I have written about the Mater Dei-Santa Margarita girls’ basketball rivalry, and the series of games between these Trinity League schools just keeps getting better.

Mater Dei, ranked No. 19 by The Times, won the rubber match in overtime, 47-44, Thursday by outscoring the seventh-ranked Eagles after regulation, 17-7.

Mater Dei won the first meeting, Santa Margarita won the second.

Mater Dei Coach Kevin Kiernan told the Register’s Carlos Arias, ‘That’s how you learn to win, consistent, hard effort. Don’t mope. Don’t hang your head.’

The game itself -- with Mater Dei falling behind but using its defense to continue wearing down Santa Margarita -- sounded like the Muhammad Ali-George Foreman boxing match, in which Ali let Foreman slug away at him before landing a stunning knockout punch in the eighth round.

So if that was the Rope-A-Dope strategy, has Kiernan stumbled upon the No-Mope-A-Dope?

-- Martin Henderson

-- Image from www.float-like-a-butterfly.de