CARSON – Reed allowed Bishop Manogue to hit 10 triples in Friday night’s 4A North semifinal and saw its season come to a close, 62-45.
The Raiders (19-6) were outscored by 18 points from beyond the arc in the 17-point defeat.
“That’s your offense, shooting threes. That’s what their offense is,” Reed coach Sara Schopper-Ramirez said. “When (Katie) Turner drives, everybody wants to suck in, no matter how much we talk about it.”
Turner, who will continue her career at Davidson (the school that produced Steph Curry) next year, found the Holt sisters all night.
Kenna, a freshman, finished with a game-high 18 points on five buckets from deep. Malia, a senior, scored 15 on three treys.
Turner finished with 14.
Bishop Manogue (24-2) advanced to its fifth-straight regional title game with its 16th consecutive win.
Reed trailed just 8-7 midway through the first quarter, only to watch the Miners take a 14-point lead on a 15-2 run. The lead never got below double digits the rest of the way.
“We talked about not trying to let them (Miners) go on those runs, not have those droughts,” Schopper-Ramirez said. “But teams like that are going to do that. We got into some foul trouble. We had to sit some players rotation wise.”
The Raiders scored six of the final seven points of the first half to take a 31-20 deficit to the locker room. It was the closest they would get.
The Miners led by as much as 20 through three quarters before the Raiders opened the fourth on an 11-2 burst to sneak within 50-39 following a Taylor Johnson (eight points) triple.
Bishop Manogue answered with five straight, including a Kenna Holt three ball, to put the game away.
Freshman Autumn Wadsworth led the Raiders with 14 points in the season-ending loss. Junior Serene Townsell-Williams added 10.
Most locker rooms following playoff defeats are somber and tear-filled. That was not the case for the Raiders, who have plenty reason to remain optimistic.
The entire starting lineup returns next winter, with just two seniors graduating.
“I just told them ‘hey,’ I was proud of them,” Schopper-Ramirez said. “We got a lot of work to do and it starts tomorrow. We know where we want to end up. Taylor and Serene as seniors, I know they want to hang something.
“Look at my sophomore class, I have six them, I know they want to hang something. This group will do something.”
Spanish Springs suffocated by Reno
CARSON – Spanish Springs was held to one second-half field goal in Friday night’s 4A North semifinal against Reno and suffered a season-ending 51-26 loss.
The Cougars finished the season with an 18-10 record, including the lone road quarterfinal win of the tournament.
“Reno’s defense is solid,” Spanish Springs coach Art Cardenas said. “They’re a little longer than we are. We have small guards and they bothered our shots, altered our shots a little bit. That, and we just couldn’t put it in.”
Reno (25-4) advanced to its fifth straight regional title game with its third win of the season over Spanish Springs and 14th overall. The Huskies beat the Cougs 61-40 at Spanish Springs last month and 61-22 in Reno just 10 days ago.
Knowing he needed something special pull off what would have been the biggest upset of the year, Cardenas game planned to take away Reno’s two best players, junior Mikayla Shults and sophomore Kaitlynn Biassou.
Shults scored a game-high 15 points. Biassou finished with 13. Dominque Harding (10 points) also reached double figures.
“It (plan) was to take Shults out of it and make somebody else beat us. They have other players,” Cardenas said. “They stepped up, they hit some shots. Biassou went off for a little bit … That’s a solid team.”
Reno will play Bishop Manogue on Saturday in Carson at 4 p.m. It’s the fifth straight year the two teams will play for the regional title. Reno won the first two. Bishop Manogue has won the last two.
A Kalli Prendergast bucket late in the second quarter kept the Cougs within shouting distance, 28-16. A Harding free throw and a Megan Derrico triple extended the Huskies’ lead to 32-18 at the break.
The distance swelled to 36-18 when Ireland Bennett hit a field goal with 1:10 left in the third. It was Spanish Springs’ final bucket of the season.
Bennett, a senior, led the Cougs with seven points.
4A North semifinals
Bishop Manogue 62, Reed 45
Reno 51, Spanish Springs 26
4A North title game (Saturday in Carson)
Reno-Bishop Manogue 4 p.m.
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