ALBANY, CA - St. Mary's has a pair of McDonald's All-Americans in Mikayla Cowling and Gabby Green. Friday night the Cal-bound duo had it their way in a 48-32 victory against Sacramento.
The victory came in a NorCal Open Division playoff opener. The Panthers will now host rival Salesian at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the NorCal semifinals. The teams have already met four times this season, with Salesian winning three times - though St. Mary's won the most recent, 65-57 in the North Coast Section Division IV title game.
Cowling had 17 points and 10 rebounds, Ma'Ana Mosley scored 14 points and Green had 11 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Panthers (27-7).
Cowling especially shined, displaying her athleticism on defense, in transition and driving to the basket.
"Mikayla is a great player," St. Mary's coach Nathan Fripp said. "She loves big games. Her and Gabby feed off each other and the team feeds off of them."
Said Cowling: ""We knew they were going to come out and play hard. They're a competitive team and they push the ball. We knew we had to keep the pace, keep our tempo and play the way we play, and not back down."
Sacramento seemed rattled playing on the road against the Panthers' suffocating pressure, and in a small gym. The Dragons misfired often in falling behind 16-5 after one quarter and 34-17 after three. Sacramento was persistent, though, cutting the margin to 38-29 after a three-pointer from the left side by Zonyia Cormier with 2:22 left in the game.
St. Mary's steadied itself after that, outscoring the Dragons 10-3 to end the contest.
Fripp was not overjoyed about the middle of the game - specifically the second quarter when St. Mary's scored just seven points.
"We didn't really put them away," he said. "We took some bad shots. We started settling for jump shots and weren't attacking the basket, but as long as we keep playing defense, we're all right."
Cowling agrees limiting Salesian offensively will be vital to St. Mary's success in Tuesday's NorCal semifinal.
"We just need to keep playing hard," she said. "Defense will be the key to the next round. We just need to keep our composure and play as a team."
This will be the second consecutive year St. Mary's and Salesian will meet in the semis. Salesian won its opening-round game on Friday night, 64-55 against host St. Ignatius, with Mariya Moore scoring 35 points.
Ayanna Edwards led Sacramento (23-9) with eight points and 15 rebounds. Simone Sheppard, Alicea Hernandez and Cormier added seven points apiece for the Dragons.
