Matadors Just Miss

CIF Northern Regional Girls Hoops: Miramonte’s season ends one-point shy of a big Open Division upset

By ERIK STORDAHL | SportStars

STOCKTON — Sabrina Ionescu missed the front end free throw of a 1-and-1 with 2.6 seconds to go.

And just like that, Miramonte’s remarkable season ended. St. Mary’s-Stockton dribbled out the remaining time and held on for a 63-62 win over the Matadors in the opening round of the CIF Northern Regional Girls Open Division on March 8.

Miramonte nearly completed an improbable comeback. Trailing 61-51 with about 4 minutes left, they didn’t panic and clawed their way back. As they had done all game, they blitzed the Rams with their signature full-court press, created turnovers and made key buckets. But it wasn’t meant to be as Ionescu pulled down a rebound with 7.9 seconds left and went full steam ahead when she got fouled before her fateful free throw attempt.

Five days earlier Miramonte was placed in the ultra-competitive Open Division, pitting the eight best teams in Northern California against each other. 

The Matadors had just lost handily to No. 1 seed Bishop O’Dowd 77-48 the night before leading some to believe Miramonte had no business being in this group, including its coach.

“We just lost the section final by 29 points,” Miramonte coach Kelly Sopak told the Bay Area News Group following his team’s NCS final loss to Bishop O’Dowd. “If we’re going in the Open Division, we are going to have to get a lot better in 72 hours.”

Had they been placed in the Division III bracket, Miramonte would have been the odds-on favorite to capture the school’s first state championship, especially with O’Dowd out of the way.

Still, it was tough to avoid the Matadors’ credentials. Their only losses were to Windward-Los Angeles, the No. 1 girls team in the country according to MaxPreps.com, and O’Dowd, which was also nationally-ranked and has spend all season atop the SportStars NorCal Top 20.

The Mats drew the No. 7 seed in the Open Division and had to travel to Delta College in Stockton to face the Rams, a storied program with seven state championships. St. Mary’s is almost identical to Miramonte: cerebral, physical, mentally tough, defensively intense.

Those in attendance were treated to one of the best games they’ll see all year. There was never a lull in the action as both teams employed a full-court press, which led to a litany of steals and fast breaks. It was like watching a game of chess as both teams cautiously, methodically brought the ball up the court, waiting for the right moment to strike.

St. Mary’s raced out to a 9-0 lead in the first 1:15 of the game before Miramonte gathered itself. The Mats trailed 28-16 early in the second quarter when they used a 16-1 run to take a 37-32 lead in the span of five minutes.

The momentum shifted back to the Rams as they went on a 14-2 run spanning the second and third quarters. St. Mary’s would build a comfortable fourth quarter lead that it nearly lost down the stretch.

Kat Tudor, a freshman sharpshooter, paced the Rams with 19 points, including four 3-pointers. Sophomore point guard Bri Moore added 16. 

“It was a game of runs,” Sopak said. “They had theirs early and we had ours late.”

Ionescu, also just a freshman, finished with 19 points, 10 rebounds and eight steals. But she’ll likely remember none of that after her role in the way the game concluded. 

Ionescu was understandably inconsolable following the final buzzer. She walked off the court with her face buried in her hands, her teammates putting their arms around her to comfort her. She’ll have more opportunities to make it back here. In fact, most of the Mats will be back next year, including juniors Megan Reid and Breanna Alford along with other freshmen Keanna Delos Santos and Uriah Howard.

“I always say this, though: you can’t count on next year. You gotta get it done this year,” Sopak said. “You never know what’s gonna happen next year, what the landscape’s gonna be.”

Regardless, the returning Matadors aren’t likely to lack motivation.