Girls’ basketball: Friday highlights from the Nike Tournament of Champions
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Friday was a big day for Southern California teams in the Joe Smith division at the Nike Tournament of Champions.
Mater Dei, Long Beach Poly and Brea Olinda all won by significant margins in the best division of the most competitive tournament of the year.
Mater Dei’s Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis had 33 points, single-handedly outscoring her competition in the Monarchs’ 78-30 victory over Hillsboro (Ore). Lewis scored 24 points in the first half for the Monarchs.
‘Our pressure was really good. That’s our thing,’ Mater Dei coach Kevin Kiernan told the Orange County Register.
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Kelsey Harris scored 17 points for Brea Olinda, which defeated Phoenix St. Mary’s, 53-31.
Brea is playing without its All-American junior Justine Hartman, who is sidelined for the year with an ACL injury.
‘We have enough weapons, but it’s an adjustment,’ Brea Olinda coach Jeff Sink told the Register. ‘If our offense can catch up with our defense, we’ll be OK.’
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Long Beach Poly beat Bolingbrook (Ill.), 57-35, yesterday in Phoenix. Junior guard Ariya Crook-Williams led the Jackrabbits with 14 points.
‘We did a tremendous job defensively,’ Long Beach Poly coach Carl Buggs told the Long Beach Press-Telegram. He added, ‘Our guards outplayed their guards and our post players really neutralized their post.’
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USA Today has ranked Mater Dei (7-0) No. 2 in the nation, Long Beach Poly (7-0) is No. 5 and Brea Olinda (5-1) is No. 12.
A play-by-play of Friday’s top games can be found here. The teams all play today and their schedules can be found on the Nike Tournament of Champions website.
Brea Olinda defeated Mt. Lebanon (Pa.), 58-47, in a game earlier this morning.
--Melissa Rohlin