Marina girls’ basketball can’t overcome offensive woes in CIF semifinals
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Marina’s margin of victory this postseason didn’t scream contender, but somehow, the Vikings had done enough to equal their longest winning streak of the season.
The defensive-minded Vikings went back to the formula, again frustrating an opponent on offense, but they were unable to get much going with the ball in their hands.
Rylee Bradley had 17 points and five rebounds, but visiting Marina fell to El Dorado, 44-34, on Saturday night in the semifinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 4 girls’ basketball playoffs.
Marina (18-14) was seeking to reach a CIF final for the first time since 1998. The Vikings had defeated Panorama City St. Genevieve, Encino Holy Martyrs and Pasadena Poly by a combined 15 points, winning three games in a row for the third time this season.
El Dorado (18-14) came into the contest having earned its three playoff wins — against Loma Linda Academy, Ontario and Long Beach Wilson — by an average of 30 points.
“I feel like we had a good game plan,” Bradley said. “Offensively, I feel like we needed to make more of our shots. If we would have made more of our shots, it would have been a closer game, and probably, highly likely, a win.
“I feel like we stayed composed on defense. These girls were nervous, and they haven’t been this far, like I have years ago. It was really good to see how they stepped up and everything, how they played with me, and they backed me up on everything, and their defense was solid.”
The senior guard helped the Vikings reach the Division 5AA semifinals as a freshman. After that ouster from the section playoffs, Marina made the most of a berth into the CIF State Southern California Division V playoffs, winning a regional championship before falling to Angels Camp Bret Harte in the state finals.
That experience was on the mind of Marina coach Daniel Roussel.
“Getting to the semis guarantees you that state playoff spot,” Roussel said. “It’s nice because it’s not a win-or-go-home situation. This is not such a sad conversation in the locker room tonight, as it normally would be. … They were happy to get two days off, and they’ll be happy to come back on Wednesday and get to work. It’s nice to not end it so suddenly right now. We’re going to hopefully make a little run here.”
The CIF State office will release brackets for its regional playoffs on Sunday, March 1.
El Dorado will face La Cañada (19-11) in the Division 4 final on Friday at 8 p.m. at Azusa Pacific University. La Cañada beat the Golden Hawks’ Crestview League rival Canyon, 47-33, in the other semifinal.
Senior forward Delaney Shiring had 20 points and 12 rebounds for El Dorado. Kennedy Wood added nine points, four rebounds and three steals. Riley Morikawa (nine points) made a trio of three-pointers, each critical in creating separation on the scoreboard.
“It really means a lot, especially coming on the journey from my freshman year,” Shiring said of winning the semifinal at home. “We lost the CIF [Division 3AA] semifinal game at home [in 2023], so I think it just really meant so much, being able to see the growth and get back to this moment and be able to pull it out.”
Marina, which was held to single digits in each period except the second quarter, got rare secondary scoring to close out the first half. Down 19-11 with under three minutes before the break, the Vikings got a three-pointer from Cheyenne Abrams and layups from Vanessa La Mont and Carleen Nguyen to tighten the deficit to 21-18 at halftime.
El Dorado, which outscored Marina 18-6 from the three-point line, used shots from distance to pull away in the fourth quarter. Shiring, Wood and Morikawa each made a three in the period, Morikawa’s stepback shot giving the Golden Hawks their largest lead of 42-28 with just over four minutes remaining.
La Mont finished with four points, eight rebounds and a blocked shot. Natalie Vazquez hit a three-pointer and pulled down four rebounds. Anaya Rivera and Nguyen also recorded a block apiece, but the Vikings’ press created little in the way of live-ball turnovers, limiting their fastbreak opportunities.
The Vikings viewed two quick fouls on Abrams in the first quarter as potentially game-changing developments in the contest.
“She’s our best defender,” Roussel said. “She controls the ball handler on every team that we play. She does so many good things for us, and I thought, yeah, those are two really tough calls at the beginning of the game, especially back to back like that.”
CIF Southern Section Division 4 semifinals
El Dorado 44, Marina 34
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Marina 4 - 14 - 7 - 9 — 34
El Dorado 8 - 13 - 10 - 13 — 44
M — Bradley 17, Abrams 5, La Mont 4, Nguyen 4, Vazquez 3, Loi 1.
3-pt. goals — Abrams 1, Vazquez 1.
Fouled out — None.
Technicals — None.
ED — Shiring 20, Morikawa 9, Wood 9, Chung 2, E. Dunham 2, Zamora 2.
3-pt. goals — Morikawa 3, Shiring 2, Wood 1.
Fouled out — None.
Technicals — None.
