BERKELEY, CA -- Mitty won its sixth girls' state title in dominating fashion on Saturday, defeating Mark Keppel-Alhambra 53-31 to secure the Division II crown.
The Monarchs trailed Keppel 21-20 with 5:28 left in the third quarter and then outscored the Aztecs 13-1 the rest of the quarter to lead by 11. Mitty was not challenged after that and, in fact, scored the game's final eight points.
Shortly after that the Monarchs were rushing to the area under their rooting section and pointing to their fans in gratitude and celebration.
"We knew they were going to come back," Monarchs' coach Sue Phillips said of Keppel's early second half rally. "With No. 3 back on the floor they were a whole different team."
No. 3 for Keppel was Lauren Saiki who led the Aztecs with three assists. She played much of the second half with four fouls as Mitty took control.
Leading 25-21 with 3:45 left in the third quarter, Mitty got an eight-footer from Maddy Holland and two consecutive 3-pointers from Dani Guglielmo to seize a 33-21 lead.
Keppel made a free throw near the end of the third quarter, but then Lauren Mewes opened the fourth with a three from the corner and Heleyna Hill added a layup and it was all but over at 38-22.
"It was exciting knocking down those shots," Guglielmo said. "It was fun to be able to contribute."
The Monarchs (25-6) had many contributors. Hill and Guglielmo led the team with 13 points apiece, Mewes had 11 and Holland scored eight points and took 13 rebounds. Phillips pointed to Holland's rebounding total as an example of Mitty's team effort.
"Maddy was amazing on the boards," Phillips said. "She had double rebounds and that's the beauty of this team. We have offensive and defensive subs and everyone accepts their role. That's why we brought home the trophy; nobody was worried about who got the credit."
Keppel also brought home hardware, albeit for second place. The Aztecs were disappointed, but not crushed.
"I'm proud of them," Keppel coach Joe Kikuchi said. "We played in the Open Division (of the Southern Section) and we struggled, but we grew from it."
The Aztecs (26-8) are a predominantly Asian team and that was a source of pride for them, according to one player.
"We were nervous and excited and just proud of be representing our city and Asians in general," senior forward Tammi Matsukiyo said. "We're under-represented at state and so we were proud."
Sophia Song led Keppel with 10 points and Kylie Fujioka added nine. Song also had 10 rebounds.
Phillips said this title was sweet, even though it came DII instead of the more prestigious Open Division.
"There was a stretch in my tenure where we opted to go up to Division I year after year," Phillips said. "We could be in double digits with 11 titles or so. We've never ducked anyone and if we had been in the Open Division we would have given it a go. But that's one for the policy makers. We just went with our situation and we came out on top and I applaud this team."
Mitty, after winning its first state title since 2012, seems to have a bright future. Regular contributors Jahnay Anderson, Hill, Holland and Guglielmo are all back next season, along with sharpshooting freshman Krissy Miyahara.
