Kelly Shea-Gallo tourney enters a new era at Mills

The Mills girls’ basketball team did right by their dearly departed coaches, advancing to the championship game of the eight-team tournament. The Lady Vikings’ Friday night opponent in the finals of the eight-team tourney, the Priory Panthers (3-1), proved too hot to handle, however, as Mills suffered its first loss of the season 45-27.

“These November games, we’re trying to build for March,” said Justin Matsu, Mills head coach and son of the late Dave Matsu. “So, playing teams like this, and Sacred Heart Prep last night, it helps us for the playoffs. It gives us great experience.”

Mills (3-1) battled into the championship round by virtue of a spirited 35-33 win over Sacred Heart Prep in Thursday’s semifinals. Fueled by seven first-quarter points from senior Sofia Kwan, the Vikings led most of the way. But SHP did well to contain Kwan over the final three quarters — she finished with 12 points — but senior point guard Riley Dela Fuente emerged to bring home the win with 10 points.

“We played really good,” Dela Fuente said of Mills’ performance in the tournament. “Obviously there’s some things we need to work on, but having this tournament in the preseason is really good to show — especially having good teams like Priory — it really shows what we need to work on, small and big things.”

Priory proved a different beast, however. The Vikings played a physical brand of zone defense in the early going, and succeeded in limiting the Panthers’ potent offense. After Priory won Wednesday’s opener 70-33 over Lowell-SF, and Thursday’s semifinal 69-34 over Lick-Wilmerding-SF, the powerhouse private school from Los Altos Hills was held to its lowest scoring output of the tournament by Mills.

“The first two games we shot way better,” Priory head coach Buck Matthews said. “We were in the 70s the first two games. And I told them we’re going to have to learn to grind out these tougher games. We don’t shoot well, but we do play really good defense ... rebounded well. And then obviously the foul calls just kept them in the game. Just silly fouls on our part. It’s just early. It’s only our fourth game of the season. So, we’ll clean it up. But overall, I’m impressed.”

While an all-tournament team was not named, Matthews said he would have nominated guard Vienn Sheng as tourney MVP. The senior was held to eight points Friday, but popped two early 3-pointers. With Priory trailing 4-3 midway through the first, Sheng crushed one from the perimeter to put her team ahead. After a transition layup by junior Jordyn Moss — on one of Mills’ 23 turnovers — Sheng finished the corner with a corner 3.

Previously in the tournament, Sheng scored 18 points against Lowell, and 20 more against Lick-Wilmerding.

“[She] was off today, but she carried us here,” Matthews said. “She’s been shooting the ball very well.”

Mills’ defense limited Priory to a 32.6% shooting clip throughout, including just 5 for 26 from 3-point territory. The Vikings turned the second quarter into a physical brand of tackle basketball, with junior Layla Wong scoring a nice underhand layup, and junior Amaya Moore bruising her way to an offensive rebound and put-back. It was the only quarter Mills didn’t lose, breaking even 7-7 to head into halftime down 31-18.

Wong finished with a team-high eight points.

The physicality took a toll on Kwan, however, who picked up her third foul in the second quarter. She picked up her fourth in the opening minute of the second half and immediately checked out, not returning to the floor until midway through the fourth quarter. It was a repeat of Thursday’s semifinal game, as she again had four fouls early in the second half.

“We’re working on her, when to be aggressive, when not to be aggressive,” Matsu said. “She just plays so hard all the time. So, it’s hard to kind of reel her out.”

Priory used its mighty interior presence to wear down the Vikings. At 6-1, senior forward Nani Tuigamala scored a game-high 10 points, while 5-11 guard Sasha Johnson added nine points and a game-high eight rebounds.

“We know they’re a shooting team, so that’s what we tried to shut down,” Dela Fuente said. “I think we did a pretty good job with that. Obviously, there’s some parts where we need to talk and need to work on better, but overall it was a good game.”

Matsu is high on the senior foursome of Kwan, Chloe Lee, Luna Mengel-Yoshimura and Kalyssa Chu, a group that has been playing together since their sixth-grade year at Taylor Middle School.

“This senior group, we’re blessed to return a lot,” Matsu said. “The seven seniors we have, six of them played with us. So, having that experience is great.”

This is the second time Priory has won the Kelly Shea-Gallo Tournament, also earning the title in 2022-23. The Panthers did not play in the tourney last season when Pinewood took the crown.