By ERIK STORDAHL | SportStars
It’s the same formula that got it this far in the season, so they saw no need in changing it “” even after a shaky first quarter.
The Carondelet girls basketball team led only 19-16 against visiting McNair-Stockton in the California Interscholastic Federation Division II Northern Regional quarterfinals on March 10. The Cougars were a step behind on defense and committed several turnovers in the first eight minutes, making believers out of the seventh-seeded Eagles.
But after the opening quarter, Carondelet outscored McNair 55-37 en route to a comfortable 74-53 victory.
What happened?
“I always think when you play an opponent you don’t really know very well, there’s always an adjustment period,” Carondelet head coach Margaret Gartner said. “And you hope that you get back into your game as soon as possible.”
The Cougars got back into their game seemingly right when the second quarter began. They deployed their potent full-court pressure, hustled for loose balls and displayed their signature marksmanship from the perimeter. And it’s that same formula that could possibly crown them state champions for the first time since 2004.
That year they had Jayne Appel, who went on to a banner career at Stanford and is now playing for the WNBA’s San Antonio Silver Stars.
These Cougars aren’t short on star power, though. Look no further than Notre Dame-bound forward Hannah Huffman, a senior who would want nothing more than to cap off her illustrious career with cutting down the nets at Power Balance Pavilion.
“It’s been my dream all my basketball career,” Huffman said of winning a state title. “It’s really, really hard not to look forward to that, but we also have to take things one game at a time.”
Huffman’s teammates want a state title just as bad, like sophomore point guard Natalie Romeo. She led all scorers with 22 points but was all over the court as she racked up five steals and a blocked shot. She also knocked down four 3-pointers adding to the Cougars’ whopping total of 13 for the game.
“We thought we were kind of off today,” Gartner said of her team’s shooting performance. “We do make a lot of 3’s but those come and go. It’s about defense and we were hoping we’d play a little bit better defense, but we’re happy with the effort.”
Carondelet will need more than just hot shooting to knock off four-time defending Div. II state champion, St. Mary’s-Stockton, in a potential in Nor Cal final game. The Rams beat the Cougars 73-58 at the MLK Classic on Jan. 16, but Carondelet has since then reeled off an impressive 15 consecutive wins.
How do they plan on solving the Rams?
“I think with St. Mary’s-Stockton we were down four at halftime (on Jan. 16),” Huffman said. “We came out for the third quarter and we were mentally just not ready. And I think that our mental game is really what’s gonna elevate us and help us play against them.
“And just staying with their tempo. Yeah, they’re a great pressure team but we pressure too and we do that all the time. So we need to make sure we’re composed and execute when we need to execute and keep our mental game as sharp as we can.”
It’s an analysis that senior leader and head coach agree on completely.
“If we see St. Mary’s, we can’t have a mental lapse,” Gartner said. “We had a really bad third quarter (against them). “¦ Once you make a mistake it might be two, three before you can get control of yourself, your emotions. Maybe a timeout and that could be six, 10, 12 points ’cause they hit a ton of 3’s too. And then to get momentum back, it’s always difficult against them.”
When looking at both teams, it’s scary to think how similar and fool-proof their blueprints are for success. The Rams are known for their hallmark press, perhaps the most formidable in the state. They too have sharpshooters and are led by national-level players, senior guard Regina Camera and junior forward Courtney Range. Just like Carondelet, they are run by an excellent coaching staff with head coach Tom Gonsalves, who has won seven state championships.
But before Gartner and the Cougars can even game plan for a possible rematch with the Rams, they’ll need to get past Archbishop Mitty-San Jose, a team who is no stranger to the postseason spotlight, recently winning state titles in 2007 and 2008.
Carondelet last faced the Monarchs in the 2010 Nor Cal Div. II final winning 40-38.
“We got to take care of that game, take care of Nor Cal finals and then I can start talking about state,” Huffman said.
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