Mater Dei’s Kirkpatrick Goes Big-Game Hunting

The bigger the game, the better Kristian Kirkpatrick seems to play.

Kirkpatrick continued that trend Saturday in Mater Dei’s 57-50 victory over Torrance North in the first round of the Southern Section Division I-A girls’ basketball playoffs.

Kirkpatrick, a 5-foot-11 junior, scored 12 points and had 14 rebounds.

Mater Dei (20-5) will play Alhambra Keppel on Wednesday. North, a smaller version of Mater Dei’s scrappy team, finished 16-11.

“Kristian’s had some big games,” Mater Dei Coach Ollie Martin said. “She had 22 points against [third-seeded] Edison [in a nonleague game]. The more pressure-packed the situation, the harder she plays.”

Kirkpatrick was complemented in the post by 6-0 junior Lindsay Pavlik (11 points) as Mater Dei took advantage of its size and a key third-quarter sequence that broke open a one-point game.

The Monarchs built a 14-point lead in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter before horrific free-throw shooting enabled North to close within five points, 55-50, with 17 seconds remaining.

Mater Dei made only 12 of 25 free throws in the fourth quarter, 16 of 34 overall.