Sacred Heart Prep Girls' Basketball Cruise into CCS Division IV Semis

The San Mateo Daily Journal

Sacred Heart Prep is taking full advantage of the absence of its archrival.

The SHP girls’ basketball team (18-6 overall) stormed into the Central Coast Section Division IV semifinals with a decisive 60-30 win over Terra Nova Saturday at Menlo School. And with three-time defending champion Menlo having qualified for the Open Division playoffs this year, the No. 2-seed Gators have all the makings of the Division IV heir apparent.

Playing on their rival’s court Saturday, the Gators took a page out of Menlo’s playbook, employing an all-out full-court press throughout. Terra Nova (12-15) simply couldn’t crack it, committing 21 turnovers, including 15 in the first half, with SHP totaling eight steals.

“It’s not typically what we do,” Gators head coach Melanie Murphy said. “It’s something we just threw in the last couple weeks of the season.”

It was an especially effective technique against a Terra Nova team that lost four players heading into the playoffs for undisclosed reasons. The key loss was the team’s point guard.

It was a tall enough order for the unseeded Tigers — who advanced to Saturday’s quarterfinal with wins over No. 10 Harker and No. 7 Mercy-SF — to go up against heavy favorite SHP. Not being able to bring the ball up court with any regularity, however, made competing a near impossible task.

“We struggled all year, but we started playing better going into playoffs,” Terra Nova head coach Kareem Summerville said. “But we knew without our starting point guard it was going to be tough.”

The Gators made it impossible at both ends of the court. They shot 42.1 percent from the field, including a game-high 16 points from senior point guard Riley Hemm. SHP also outrebounded Terra Nova 40-25, and without 6-1 junior center Natalie Zimits no less, who was out of action Saturday while playing in a club volleyball tournament.

Hemm was particularly lethal from beyond the arc, knocking down four 3-pointers in the game, including a Steph Curry-esque running 40-footer at the first-quarter buzzer.

But SHP got a great performance from its bigs as well. Senior center Ma-ata Makoni had 14 points and seven rebounds. And 6-1 sophomore Tatum Angotti showed all the potential of a future superstar, totaling eight points and nine rebounds; all but one of her rebounds came in the first half.

“I feel like we’re really evenly spread out on the floor as a team,” Hemm said. “We’re really good shooters and have really good post players. … So, it’s nice to be able to dish to our bigs or kick it out to the 3-point line.”

Hemm is a fourth-year varsity starter and third-year team captain. Her longtime captaincy is due to her coming up with a relatively young Gators squad, which last season didn’t have any seniors on roster.

Now, Hemm is looking to cap her high school career with a CCS title. She, like her coach however, is staying true the one-game-at-a-time perspective.

“I don’t think it’s ever a guarantee, no matter what your seed is,” Murphy said. “That’s why you play the games.”

Terra Nova was paced by nine points from sophomore Victoria Muliufi. Senior guard Morgan Vurek had seven and center Malia Koloamatangi added six.

The Tigers’ CCS two wins were highlighted by last Thursday’s 49-28 rout of Mercy-SF, with three Terra Nova players tabbing double-doubles — sophomore Numi Saini had 16 points and 17 rebounds; sophomore Vebus Pascua totaled 10 points and 12 rebounds; and Koloamatangi added 10 points and a team-high 18 rebounds.

“No matter what happens, I’m proud of them because we went into the tournament unseeded,” Summerville said. “They play hard, they never give up. They have a fighting chance.”

With the win, SHP advances to Tuesday’s semifinals to take on No. 3 Monte Vista Christian-Watsonville (22-3), as the Mustangs eliminated No. 6 Half Moon Bay 44-30 in Saturday’s early game at Menlo. Tip-off at Menlo School is scheduled for 7:45 p.m.

In the other CCS Division IV semifinal bracket, No. 5 Oceana will take on No. 1 Scotts Valley at Menlo at 6 p.m. Oceana upset No. 4 Live Oak 49-40 Saturday at Menlo, while Scotts Valley took out No. 8 Castilleja 59-29.