Santa Ana Mater Dei beats Concord Carondelet for state Division II title
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis wore a slightly amused look as she walked off the court after fouling out with 5 minutes 15 seconds left in the biggest game of her basketball career.
It was almost as if the Santa Ana Mater Dei High junior guard knew her teammates had more than enough left to win without her.
The Monarchs did just that, pulling out a 58-43 victory over Concord Carondelet on Friday night at Rabobank Arena in the girls’ state Division II championship. It was Mater Dei’s second state title, the first coming in 1996.
Sophomore point guard Jordan Adams helped Mater Dei (32-1) keep its composure and junior forward Jessica Duarte scored nine of her 19 points in the final quarter as the Monarchs held off one final push from Carondelet (27-6).
“They stayed together the whole time,” said Mosqueda-Lewis, who scored a game-high 21 points in only 19:56 of playing time.
It wasn’t easy. The Cougars refused to fold after star forward Erica Payne fouled out with 5:53 left in the third quarter. Mosqueda-Lewis picked up her fourth foul 13 seconds later and shortly thereafter Carondelet went on a 13-0 run to pull within 39-33.
When Mosqueda-Lewis fouled out early in the fourth quarter with the Monarchs leading by 11 points, Mater Dei Coach Kevin Kiernan said, “It was panic time, almost.”
Carondelet whittled its deficit to seven points on a layup by Hannah Huffman before Duarte responded with consecutive baskets inside and then Adams scored to restore the Monarchs’ double-digit lead.
“As long as we had Jordan in there, we still felt like we had some kind of control,” Kiernan said of Adams, who collected 12 points and nine rebounds. “And Jessica was huge. She can make threes, she can attack the basket and has a lot of put-backs.”
Huffman finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds and Erin Boettcher had 12 points and 16 rebounds for Carondelet, which outrebounded Mater Dei, 48-29, but had nine more turnovers and shot only 28.6%, to Mater Dei’s 43.4%.
Harvard-Westlake makes history
Stuck in a one-point game early in the second quarter, North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake ratcheted up its defense and ran away with a 58-44 victory over Albany St. Mary’s in the Division IV championship for its first state title.
The Wolverines (34-1) used a pair of 9-0 runs in the second quarter and another 9-0 run to start the third, but it was the zero side of those surges that most pleased them.
“Coach [Melissa Hearlihy] told us all we had to do was pressure their guards and they would be in trouble,” said Harvard-Westlake senior guard Nicole Nesbit, who had 15 points and three steals. “They didn’t know what to do.”
Wolverines senior forwards Sydney Haydel and Nicole Hung were plenty sure of themselves in their final high school games, with Haydel scoring 20 points on seven-for-11 shooting and Hung getting 16 points and nine rebounds.
“I wanted that banner in the gym,” Haydel said of the impetus for her big game. “This was my goal at the beginning of the season.”
Seniof forward Danielle Mauldin scored 14 points for St. Mary’s (31-4), which shot 29.2% to Harvard-Westlake’s 42.5%.
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