It took a little while before the Eastside Prep girls basketball shook off the rust and got its game in gear. But once that happened, it became clear that this could be the start of something special.
Eastside (23-5), the No. 1 seed in the Northern California Division V field, went on a 25-0 run over the second and third quarters of a 38-13 second round victory over San Domenico.
With all the success the Eastside girls program has had under Donovan Blythe, the Panthers have never won a NorCal title. This year could be the year for Eastside with defending Division V state champion Pinewood selected for the Open Division.
St. Ignatius was also placed in the NorCal Open Division field and Eastside beat St. Ignatius in the Central Coast Section Open Division third-place game.
“The challenge of playing in the Open would’ve been fun,” said Eastside senior Destiny Graham. “But this is the easier road to get to the state finals.”
Eastside trailed 7-6 after one quarter against San Domenico of San Anselmo (23-7) and were down 9-8 before it went on a 17-0 run to close the first half. Then they scored the first eight points of the second half to make it 33-9.
Eastside’s full-court press gave the vistors fits. San Domenico managed all of four points as it committed 18 turnovers over the final 23 minutes of the game.
“We looked at them on film and saw that 11 (Rachele Nagler) was their best player and ball handler,” Blythe said. “We figured if we put pressure on her she would start getting tired.”
Chacitty Cunningham led Eastside with 15 points. Graham scored 14, all in the first half.
Eastside advances to play No. 5 seed University of San Francisco, a 49-47 winner over Durham, in Tuesday’s semifinal.
Archbishop Mitty 70, Antelope 34: Mitty (22-6) began defense of its NorCal Division II title, scoring the first 10 points and cruising into the semifinals with a victory over Antelope (27-3) at home.
Jahnay Anderson scored all 12 of her points before halftime, hitting two early 3-pointers to get the third-seeded Monarchs rolling.
Krissy Miyahara, a freshman recently promoted from the junior varsity squad, hit four 3-pointers to also finish with 12 points for Mitty, which advanced to play Tuesday against Presentation.
Mitty led by 18 points at halftime and kept its foot on the throttle in the third quarter as Miyahara buried three 3-pointers to help lead the way.
Presentation 55, Carondelet 51: Presentation (14-14) rallied from a 10-point third-quarter deficit to knock off host Carondelet (26-4), the No. 2 seed in the Division II playoffs.
The Panthers utilized a 7-0 run in the third quarter and a 9-0 run in the fourth quarter to pull off the comeback.
Down 51-50 with a minute left, Maddie Guidoux scored the final five points of the game from the free-throw line. Maeve Kavanagh had 15 points to lead Presentation.
St. Francis, a 52-49 winner over Kimball of Tracy, will play at No. 1 seed Dublin in the other Division II semifinal.
Valley Christian 52, Rio Linda 44: Caitlin Keding scored 14 points and Sami Oliver had 13 for No. 3 Valley Christian (14-13), which will play at No. 2 Bishop O’Dowd in a Division III semifinal.
Freshman Lizze Moore had 13 rebounds and Kyanna Davis pulled down 12 boards for the Warriors.
