Mater Dei Wins With Williams

Jessica Williams does a lot of things right for the Mater Dei girls’ basketball team. Even if it’s just being in the right place at the right time.

Williams, a sophomore forward, took advantage of some rare offensive opportunities in the fourth quarter Tuesday, scoring 11 points and helping the third-ranked Monarchs beat No. 9 Rosary, 66-56, in a Serra League opener at Rosary.

Williams, who started because Kristian Kirkpatrick was ill, missed her first three shots before a layup early in the third quarter gave the Monarchs a 37-21 lead.

Mater Dei (14-3, 1-0) appeared to have the game well in hand at that point, but the Royals went on an 11-0 run late in the third quarter and cut the lead to 41-35 on Jen Farner’s breakaway layup.

The Monarchs built their lead back up to 11 early in the fourth quarter, but consecutive three-pointers by Jennie Asensio and Jenise Karcher cut it to 55-50 with 4 minutes 4 seconds remaining.

After a Mater Dei timeout, Williams scored inside and Asensio followed by missing a three-pointer. Williams then took advantage of the long rebound and scored on a breakaway layup for a 59-50 lead.

The Royals (14-5, 0-1) answered with a three-pointer from Maggie Barnett with 3:10 remaining, but Williams put back an offensive rebound and Mater Dei was back up by eight.

“She’s going to be a big-time player for us,” Mater Dei Coach Ollie Martin said. “She does all the little things. You watch her positioning, you watch her passing. I had her take the ball out against their press because she can handle the ball so well, and she’s a forward.”

Lindsay Pavlik led the Monarchs with 18 points and 17 rebounds and Kyra Melville had 15 points before fouling out with two minutes left.

Farner had 15 points and nine rebounds and Barnett had 13 points, seven assists and seven rebounds for Rosary.

In another Serra League game:

Santa Margarita 67, Lakewood St. Joseph 38--Colleen O’Leary had six three-pointers and scored 23 points for host Santa Margarita (13-4, 1-0).