Rosary Gets Shot at Second Straight Championship

Maggie Barnett scored 20 points and had five assists as Rosary defeated Mission Hills Alemany, 61-49, in a Southern Section Division III-AA semifinal girls’ basketball playoff game on Saturday at North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake High.

Rosary, the defending Division III-AA champion and seeded No. 4 this year, will face No. 2 Torrance Bishop Montgomery or No. 3 Harvard-Westlake for the title next week at the Pyramid in Long Beach.

“We’ve had something to prove,” said Barnett. “I think a lot of people have underestimated us.”

Alemany (23-6) shot poorly (19 of 60), was outrebounded, 33-24, and forced only 11 turnovers with its defense, after averaging more than 25 this season.

“Their intensity was 100% and ours was about 50%,” said Alemany’s Rice-bound guard Kate Beckler, who scored 15 points but didn’t make her first outside shot until a three-point basket with 21 seconds to play.

Rosary finished behind large-school powers Mater Dei and Santa Margarita in the four-team Serra League, and entered the playoffs as an at-large team.

Alemany took an 8-2 lead before the Royals took control.

“Even when we were ahead, 8-2, we looked panicked out there,” Alemany Coach Melissa Hearlihy said.

“They were poised and we didn’t run an offense.”

Barnett, the division’s player of the year last season as a junior, scored only two points in the first half, but Jenise Karcher scored 12 of her 18 before intermission to help Rosary to a 30-23 lead.

The advantage increased to 46-28 early in the fourth quarter, and Barnett hit 10 of 12 free throws in the final five minutes to hold off the Indians.

Bridget O’Connell added 11 points for Rosary.

Nyasha Bralock scored seven of her 13 points in the fourth quarter to help Alemany climb to within 47-38 at one point.

Beckler played only eight of the final 13 minutes after picking up her third and fourth fouls, and forward Karina Siam missed the final seven minutes with a knee injury.

“We just may see them again,” Rosary Coach Richard Yoon said. “But I hope not. They’re a good team.”