SANTA ANA – Summit High girls basketball coach Latrina Duncan didn’t think her team was as big an underdog to Santa Ana Mater Dei as many other people did.
“I thought we were a very good team that could play with anybody,” Duncan said.
And it was obvious her players believed it.
Fifth-seeded Summit led by as many as four points in the first half, and was as close as one point as late as the third quarter before eventually losing to No.1-seeded and host Mater Dei, 69-59, in a CIF State Division I Southern California Regional semifinal on Tuesday night.
Mater Dei (32-3), the CIF-SS Division1AA champion and No. 1-ranked team in the state, advances to the regional final Saturday at Citizens Business Bank Arena.
Summit, the CIF-SS Division 1A champion, ended its season at 30-4.
“I’m really proud of my team,” said senior Jillian Alleyne, who had 18 points and 17 rebounds in the game. “No one expected us to get this far, and we played really well tonight.”
“There’s no doubt they were disappointed,” Duncan said, “because they thought they could win the game.”
They definitely could have.
Summit led by as many as four points in the first quarter, and trailed 36-30 at halftime.
“I like the way we started,” Duncan said. “I told them if we could keep it within five, 10 points we had a chance.”
The Monarchs looked ready to give Summit a knockout blow in the third quarter when they opened up a 43-32 lead. But the SkyHawks proved difficult to shake.
A 10-0 run, capped by Brooklynn Jackson’s second 3-pointer of the game, made it 43-42 with 1:56 to play in the third.
“Brooklynn hit a couple of big 3s for us,” Duncan said.
That Summit was going toe-to-toe with Mater Dei was not a surprise to Monarchs coach Kevin Kiernan.
“We knew that their biggest strength was our biggest weakness offensive rebounding,” Kiernan said.
But on the other hand, turnovers proved to be a killer for the SkyHawks. They had 17 turnovers in the first half and 28 in the game. Some came off of the Monarchs’ full-court press, and some came off of their half-court defense.
“Turnovers hurt us at times, and we didn’t box out well at times,” Duncan said. “And even with all the mistakes, we still had a chance.”
“We took off the press and we were able to force some turnovers in the half-court,” Kiernan said. “And when we can get (Jordan) Adams and (Nirra) Fields into the open court, they’re tough to stop.”
Fields finished with 25 points, while Adams added 23.
Mater Dei opened up its lead to 14 points in the fourth quarter, looking to finally turn the game into a blowout, but the SkyHawks once again battled back.
A 13-4 run, capped by three free throws by Ashley Weissmann with 32.4 seconds left, brought Summit to within five, 64-59. The Monarchs, however, put the game away with free throws in the final seconds.
“If they don’t make their free throws, it’s a much closer game,” Alleyne said.
In addition to Alleyne, Ajaee Foster had an outstanding game with 14 points (including 11 in the second half) and six rebounds. Weissmann had 12 points, making 3 of 5 3-pointers, while Jackson scored eight points and Adrianna Brodie scored seven.
“It was a loss, but it was a great team effort,” Duncan said.
