Aragon all alone atop PAL South girls’ hoops standings

With two regular-season games remaining, the Lady Dons (9-1 PAL South, 14-8 overall) now hold their PAL fate in their own hands, needing to clear two substantial hurdles next week — including a finale against a Hillsdale team that handed Aragon its only league loss this season — to earn their first outright league title since 2011-12.

“The PAL, everybody’s beating up on each other,” Aragon head coach Sam Manu said. “So, it’s been nice to see everybody competitive. It’s a nice season. We’re thankful for it but we still have to finish out, too. And we still have to play Hillsdale here, so we owe them one.”

With Mills missing two big post players in junior Cassandra Stanley and senior Kim Yu, the Dons dominated on the boards, outrebounding the Vikings 37-22 throughout. The offensive rebounding set the tone from the outset. Aragon grabbed 11 boards in the first quarter, seven of those coming on the offensive glass.

“We’ve been rebounding very well,” Dons forward Seilala Lautaimi said.

Lautaimi recorded a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

With Aragon shooting just 32.1% from the floor, Lautaimi was pivotal in following the shots of senior Lydia Manu (11 points), and sophomores Jordan Beaumont and Megan Grant (6 points apiece). Lautaimi, who recently rejoined the starting lineup, earning her third straight start Friday, finished with six offensive boards.

“What she is, she’s very instinctive,” Sam Manu said. “She can run with any dribble penetration, and she did a great job with that. Whenever Lydia drove, she just went opposite. We kind of teach that circle movement, and she did really super that way.”

Mills (6-4, 14-8) kept pace with Aragon through much of the first half, and even took an 18-17 lead to open the second quarter on 5-foot floater by senior Rachel Dumandan.

Aragon responded with a 9-0 run, capped by a perimeter 3-pointer by Beaumont. Mills junior Victoria Williams finished the half strong, though, flying into traffic to finish an athletic underhanded layup to close it to 28-22 at the half.

In the second half, however, Aragon used its jump-switch man-to-man matchups up top to shut down Williams. She finished with a team-high 14 points but didn’t land a single field goal in the second half.

“In the first half, she was attacking the basket a lot more,” Mills head coach Dave Matsu said. “That’s her strength because she’s so strong. In the second half they put a different defender on her and locked her up a bit. But she played hard … so she was tired in that second half.”

Mills shot 43.3% from the floor but managed to take just 30 shots on the night. This had much to do with Aragon learning its lesson from the Jan. 17 matchup between the two teams. The Dons won that one 60-47 but not before Mills opened with a 21-point first quarter.

“Last time we played them … they backdoored and killed us,” Sam Manu said.

Vikings forward Chloe Tam added 12 points and five rebounds, including eight points in the fourth quarter. By that time it was too late, though, as Aragon held Mills to single-digit scoring in each of the last three periods.

“Our play, it’s mainly just to drive in and get fouled,” Tam said. “So, we were all just focusing on driving in, we weren’t really looking for shots.”

The Vikings scuffled mightily with free-throw shooting, converting just 12 of 24 on the night.

“Our thing was — get to the basket,” Matsu said. “We didn’t want to settle for jumpers. Everything was to get to the basket, get fouled, hit free throws. … The difference in the game was the free throws. We lost by 10; we missed 12 free throws. We’ve been shooting at a 91 percentile. So, to me, that was the difference in the game.”

Mills is still in position to qualify for the Central Coast Section playoffs. Currently tied for third place in the PAL South, the Vikings already own a requisite non-league record to apply for an at-large bid.

“It wasn’t for a lack of effort that we lost that game,” Matsu said. “We played hard the whole game. We’re missing two starters. I thought the next-man-up, people stepped up and did their roles. I will sleep good tonight. I think we played well and I’m proud of my kids.”

Aragon sophomore Mabryn Manu enjoyed a standout night on defense. While totaling four points and four rebounds, she shared the game-high of three steals with her older sister Lydia Manu. Mills committed 23 turnovers to that of 16 by Aragon

“And she’s just a surprise,” Sam Manu said of his youngest daughter Mabryn. “I think everybody’s surprised. But it’s her defense.”