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Mater Dei’s bench begins to celebrate as the buzzer sounds as they defeated Sage Hills. Sage Hill vs. Mater Dei in the first round of the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs at Mater Dei High School on Saturday Feb. 10, 2024. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Sage Hill’s Annabelle Spotts releases a shot as Mater Deixe2x80x99s Jenessa Cotton, left, defends in the game between Sage Hill vs. Mater Dei in the first round of the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs at Mater Dei High School on Saturday Feb. 10, 2024. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Mater Dei’s Amaya Williams, right, saves the ball as Sage Hillxe2x80x99s Aurora Elder, left, tries to get a hand on the ball in the game between Sage Hill vs. Mater Dei in the first round of the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs at Mater Dei High School on Saturday Feb. 10, 2024. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Mater Dei’s Jenessa Cotton, right, is blocked by Sage Hillxe2x80x99s Annabelle Spotts, left, during the game between Sage Hill vs. Mater Dei in the first round of the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs at Mater Dei High School on Saturday Feb. 10, 2024. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Sage Hill’s Amalia Holguin, left, makes a no-look pass during the game between Sage Hill vs. Mater Dei in the first round of the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs at Mater Dei High School on Saturday Feb. 10, 2024. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Sage Hill’s Zoie Lamkin shoots a floater over Mater Deixe2x80x99s Jenessa Cotton during the game between Sage Hill vs. Mater Dei in the first round of the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs at Mater Dei High School on Saturday Feb. 10, 2024. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Sage Hill’s Amalia Holguin, center, hangs onto the ball during the game between Sage Hill vs. Mater Dei in the first round of the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs at Mater Dei High School on Saturday Feb. 10, 2024. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Mater Dei’s Emily Shaw, left, rebounds in the first half of the game between Sage Hill vs. Mater Dei in the first round of the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs at Mater Dei High School on Saturday Feb. 10, 2024. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Mater Dei’s Jenessa Cotton shoots as Sage Hill’s Amalia Holguin, right, defends during the game between Sage Hill vs. Mater Dei in the first round of the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs at Mater Dei High School on Saturday Feb. 10, 2024. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Sage Hill’s Amalia Holguin, center, attempts to drive the lane between the Mater Dei defense in the game between Sage Hill vs. Mater Dei in the first round of the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs at Mater Dei High School on Saturday Feb. 10, 2024. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Sage Hill’s Emily Eadie, center, is sandwiched between Mater Deixe2x80x99s Emily Shaw, left, and Jenessa Cotton, right, early in the match up between Sage Hill vs. Mater Dei in the first round of the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs at Mater Dei High School on Saturday Feb. 10, 2024. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Mater Dei’s Amaya Williams, left, protects the ball as Sage Hillxe2x80x99s Zoie Lamkin, right, looks for an opening during the game between Sage Hill vs. Mater Dei in the first round of the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs at Mater Dei High School on Saturday Feb. 10, 2024. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
The ball is up for grabs in the opening game between Sage Hill vs. Mater Dei in the first round of the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs at Mater Dei High School on Saturday Feb. 10, 2024. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Sage Hill’s Aurora Elder extends attempting a rebound in the game between Sage Hill vs. Mater Dei in the first round of the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs at Mater Dei High School on Saturday Feb. 10, 2024. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Sage Hill’s Emily Eadie, right, releases a shot as Mater Deixe2x80x99s Jenessa Cotton, left, defends in the game between Sage Hill vs. Mater Dei in the first round of the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs at Mater Dei High School on Saturday Feb. 10, 2024. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Sage Hill’s Annabelle Spotts, right, attempts a shot during the game between Sage Hill vs. Mater Dei in the first round of the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs at Mater Dei High School on Saturday Feb. 10, 2024. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Sage Hill’s Zoie Lamkin shoots in the second half of the game between Sage Hill vs. Mater Dei in the first round of the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs at Mater Dei High School on Saturday Feb. 10, 2024. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Mater Dei’s Devyn Kiernan shoots a lay-up during the game between Sage Hill vs. Mater Dei in the first round of the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs at Mater Dei High School on Saturday Feb. 10, 2024. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Sage Hill’s Emily Eadie, left, battles Mater Deixe2x80x99s Jenessa Cotton, right, for the ball during the game between Sage Hill vs. Mater Dei in the first round of the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs at Mater Dei High School on Saturday Feb. 10, 2024. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Mater Dei’s Jenessa Cotton chases down a loose ball during the game between Sage Hill vs. Mater Dei in the first round of the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs at Mater Dei High School on Saturday Feb. 10, 2024. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Sage Hill’s Amalia Holguin, left, defends against Mater Deixe2x80x99s Amaya Williams, right, in the game between Sage Hill vs. Mater Dei in the first round of the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs at Mater Dei High School on Saturday Feb. 10, 2024. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Sage Hill’s Emily Eadie releases her shot during the game between Sage Hill vs. Mater Dei in the first round of the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs at Mater Dei High School on Saturday Feb. 10, 2024. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Sage Hill’s Annabelle Spotts, left, looks for a rebound against Mater Deixe2x80x99s Jenessa Cotton, right, during the game between Sage Hill vs. Mater Dei in the first round of the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs at Mater Dei High School on Saturday Feb. 10, 2024. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
Mater Dei’s Chasity Rice, left, attempts a shot over Sage Hillxe2x80x99s Amalia Holguin, right, during the game between Sage Hill vs. Mater Dei in the first round of the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs at Mater Dei High School on Saturday Feb. 10, 2024. (Photo by Michael Kitada, Contributing Photographer)
SANTA ANA — Mater Dei’s girls basketball team saw the excitement in the Sage Hill faithful when the group held up newspapers as the Monarchs took the floor. The Trinity League powerhouse also felt how passionate the Lightning are about claiming a victory in the rivalry.
And Mater Dei continued to not budge Saturday, and played more like a team hunting for something itself.
“Pride,” Monarchs coach Kevin Kiernan said after his team edged Sage Hill 56-55 in the first leg of the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs at Mater Dei. “No disrespect to everybody else, we feel we put in a lot of time, we put the kids through a lot, we work hard and we expect to be successful.”
“When we are challenged like we are in a game like this, it’s very gratifying to execute at the end,” the coach added.
Before a boisterous crowd of 2,000, Kaeli Wynn delivered the winning basket in a clash of the top-two ranked teams in Orange County. The sophomore sank a 3-pointer in the corner off a pass from a driving Emily Shaw to give the No. 1 Monarchs a 56-55 lead with 35 seconds left in the fourth period.
“Credit to my mom and my dad,” Wynn said of her parents Jody and Derek, both basketball coaches. “I’ve been going every day for the past two weeks and shooting with them after practice and we’ve been working a lot on shooting a higher (arching) ball because my ball has been flat throughout the season.”
“My mom was telling me, ‘Trust your shot. It’s going to fall,’ ” Wynn added of her mother, the former Jody Anton who starred at Brea Olinda, coached collegiately and now is an assistant at Mater Dei. “Emily passed to me and I knew I had to shoot it. I fell on the ground and I was so in shock that I made it that I was (asking my teammates) ‘Help me up guys.’ “
The Monarchs (23-6) and their defense held from there. They contested a missed driving layup with about 17 seconds left before Jenessa Cotton forced a turnover on an inbounds play with 4.5 seconds left.
Annabelle Spotts made a late steal for No. 2 Sage Hill but the Lightning didn’t get off their ensuing shot before time expired.
In winning the Group A pool-play game, Mater Dei improved to 5-0 against Sage Hill since it began facing the program with several proteges of the late Kobe Bryant and his Mambas youth team.
“We know good they are and how badly they want to beat us,” Kiernan said. “Mater Dei is a very polarizing place … and it’s only news when we lose so we kind of use that mentality. It’s us against the world.”
“But that’s exciting,” Kiernan added of the rivalry. “We want to beat them, too.”
The Duke-bound Cotton paced Mater Dei by scoring a game-high 23 points and adding eight rebounds. Wynn scored 11 of her 16 points in the second period to help Mater Dei lead 34-25 at halftime.
The Monarchs received a major lift off the bench from freshman guard Chasity Rice, who tallied nine points, five assists, eight rebounds and two steals.
Emily Eadie converted a 3-point play to give Sage Hill (24-3) a 55-53 lead with about 45 seconds left. The Princeton-bound senior led the Lightning with 16 points. Spotts and Amalia Holguin added 14 and 13 points, respectively.
Kat Righeimer led the defense with three blocks and key steal that helped the Lightning take a 42-40 lead into the fourth quarter.
“We played hard and it just didn’t go our way tonight,” Sage Hill coach Kerwin Walters said. “Mater Dei played very well. Wynn hit a big shot and we just came up short.”
The Monarchs were pleased with their defensive effort against Holguin, who finished with one 3-pointer in the opening period. The trio of Amaya Williams, Rice and Devyn Kiernan guarded the sophomore full court and didn’t switch off her when screened in the half-court offense.
Mater Dei continues pool play Wednesday by playing host Orangewood Academy while Sage Hill plays at top-seeded Sierra Canyon. In another game Saturday, Sierra Canyon defeated visiting Orangewood Academy 82-43. Maria Mejia scored 13 points for the Spartans.
