The last time the San Marin-Novato girls basketball team was in the Marin County Athletic League mix for the top spot was the 2011-12 season when the Mustangs girls finished in second place to Marin Catholic-Kentfield at 11-3 in league and 25-7 overall.
In fact, until this season it’s been over 20-years since San Marin has been able to claim a portion of the MCAL regular season or playoff titles.
All that changed last week when San Marin (23-3, 12-2) came up huge and swept MCAL rivals Tamalpais-Mill Valley and Marin Catholic, 40-35 and 52-37, respectively. In between they sandwiched wins over Terra Linda-San Rafael and Branson-Ross to secure a co-MCAL title with Tam and Marin Catholic.
Not only did the Mustangs girls secure the co-championship they stamped themselves as MCAL playoff favorites in what is unfolding as one of the greatest seasons in Mustangs girls hoops history.
San Marin lost in early December to a Menlo-Atherton-Atherton team that is ranked No. 7 in the Prep2Prep CIF Central Coast Section rankings and then lost 55-38 to Tamalpais at home and 39-36 to Marin Catholic in the first week of MCAL action.
Since the January 9 loss to Marin Catholic, Coach Dan Lucia and his girls are on a 10-game winning streak heading into next week’s playoffs.
Buying into the team concept
One thing that makes what the team has done even more amazing is the Mustangs have won all 10 games with their leading scorer and top returning player, senior guard Kaleah Williams. She’s out for the season with a shoulder injury.
“It’s a very interesting, highly academic group of girls,” said ninth-year Coach Lucia. “With Kaleah out we have no superstar. The girls have bought into the team concept.
The team concept has certainly paid off and Lucia has been the right person to guide them. In his day job as the vice-president of sales and marketing for a food broker Lucia is obviously skilled at team building.
“We try teaching the girls to develop a desire to win and the message has definitely sunk in. If we’re going to put three hours a day in time and effort, let’s get the most out of it,” continued Lucia, whose daughter Sarah was a senior on the 2011-12 team
[Baby Giraffe leads the pack
When the top scorer goes down 15 games into the season and the team has continued success means others are stepping up, and one of those players is 5-10 sophomore forward Shasta Parker. After averaging 5.5 points and 5.6 rebounds a game as a freshman she is now at 10.4 points and 7.4 rebounds a game this season, and those averages have been rising since Williams went down. In the recent victories over Tamalpais and Marin Catholic Parker had 16 and 19 points, respectively.
“I call her the “baby Giraffe” because she’s still growing into her feet, but don’t get me wrong, she’s very athletic and a game-changer even as a sophomore. She’s come on like gangbusters,” said Lucia regarding Parker.
The long-range shooter on the team is guard Mikayla DeBarros. She currently leads the MCAL in 3-point shooting on 46 of 126 (37-percent) from outside the arc.
The girls Lucia calls his top defender is junior guard Emilie Baxter, who also plays on the Mustangs volleyball team.
“Chemistry is getting us where we need to be right now,” Lucia remarked.
A piece of the action
The team will look to make some noise in this week’s league playoffs and then the CIFNCS Division III playoffs, but regardless of what they do no one can take this regular season co-championship away from this group of young Mustangs.
San Marin has a good chance to win the league playoffs but after that they play in the toughest NCS playoff division that includes nationally-ranked Miramonte-Orinda and defending CIF Division III state champion Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland.
“Personally for me it feels good to finally get a piece of the action after nine years, and the girls are excited to be co-champions. It gets us a banner to put up in the gym, but after that when we get into the North Coast Section and the NorCals if we run into a buzz saw we understand that.”
Buzz saw or not the Mustangs are currently No. 3 in the Redwood Empire behind Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa and Arcata and No. 20 overall in the Prep2Prep NCS rankings, and no one can take down that banner the San Marin faithful have been waiting to hang for over two decades.
As for Lucia, he could have hung it up after his daughter graduated but something keeps him going.
“I have no plans on retiring. It’s my extra activity that keeps me young – and why stop when something continues to challenge you, plus I’m incredibly passionate about teaching and helping teenagers grow and learn life’s lesson through a game they love.”
Newman continues to roll
With three wins last week in North Bay League action Prep2Prep NCS No. 4 ranked Cardinal Newman (22-4, 14-0) now moves on to the NBL playoffs where the Cardinals will be a prohibitive favorite after completing an unbeaten regular season where their closest game was a 28-point road victory at Rancho Cotate-Rohnert Park.
Since an MLK Showcase 57-48 loss to state-ranked Clovis West-Fresno, in a game the Cardinals played the Golden Eagles as tough as anyone has all season, Newman has won nine straight and barely broken a sweat.
They may not have much trouble in the NBL playoffs but after that they will likely be the No. 2 seed in the CIFNCS Division IV playoffs behind Salesian-Richmond and if those two meet in the finals it could be quite a game.
Arcata in the mix
Based on the power rankings and the Prep2Prep NCS rankings the likely No. 3 seed in the NCS Division IV playoffs is Arcata.
Although the Humboldt-Del Norte – Big 5 League they compete in is not very strong the Tigers have looked good outside the far north and their 20-4 record (8-0 in league) supports that.
Last week the girls got a bit of a tussle in a 68-58 win at Fortuna, but closed out league play with two strong showings in 59-38 and 45-31 victories over St. Bernard’s-Eureka and McKinleyville, respectively.
Look for the girls from behind the Redwood Curtain to make some noise in the D4 playoffs.
