SANTA ANA — Centennial made the most of its size advantage to defeat Mater Dei’s girls basketball team 60-48 in the semifinals of the CIF Southern California Division I Regional playoffs Saturday at Mater Dei High.
Mater Dei (26-8) was the top seed in the Division I bracket. The Monarchs beat Windward and La Salle in the first two rounds of the regional playoffs.
“The resiliency they’ve shown all year long has been remarkable,” Mater Dei coach Jody Wynn said of her players. “We started with seven seniors and we finished with three, so the kids had to grow up throughout the year and expand their roles. We battled and lost to a better team tonight.”
Centennial (22-5) went 0-2 during pool play in the CIF Southern Section Open Division playoffs and then had to beat St. Joseph of Lakewood in a play-in to qualify for the state playoffs.
The Huskies will play at Rancho Christian on Tuesday night for the regional title and a spot in the state championships in Sacramento next weekend.
Centennial’s size was a problem for Mater Dei throughout the game but particularly in the second half. Mater Dei had just one offensive rebound in the game and just four points in the paint.
“We worked on a zone that was going to take them out of the paint,” Centennial coach Matt Tumambing said. “We didn’t rotate particularly well in the first half, and our coaching staff made some adjustments. Limiting their opportunities was the goal.”
Mater Dei trailed by three points at the start of the fourth quarter but was held scoreless for a four-minute stretch while Centennial went on an 11-0 run.
“I think it was just their size,” Wynn said. “We worried about their point guard and it opened the floor for their guard to get slippery, get to the rim and we gave up some and-ones.”
Talithakoum Poialii-Hunkin led Centennial with 20 points after being held scoreless in the Huskies’ previous game against Moreno Valley. Sydney Douglas had 16 points and Armanyie Reed had 11 assists.
“They (Mater Dei) run a really good matchup zone, so the ball movement was super important,” Tumambing said. “Armanyie did a phenomenal job setting the table for everybody.”
Keleesa Howard had 10 points and Cydnee Bryant had 13 rebounds.
Freshman Legend Tyler led Mater Dei with 18 points and made four 3-pointers. Stella Hoss added 10 points for the Monarchs, and Harmony Golightly had eight points with six assists before fouling out in the fourth quarter.
The Monarchs shot 47 percent from 3-point range in the first half but made just two of 13 3-point attempts in the second half.
Centennial won a state championship in 2021.
Tumambing was disappointed Centennial didn’t get to the CIF-SS Open Division finals, but is happy with how his team is playing now.
“We were disappointed that we weren’t in the Open (final). We thought we played Sierra Canyon very well,” Tumambing said. “We feel like we can play with anybody and we are excited to see where we take this.”