The Menlo girls’ basketball team advanced to the Division II state championship game with a convincing 53-38 win over No. 3 seeded Enterprise-Redding.
Top-seeded Menlo will play for their first state championship since 1991 when they take on the Southern California champions No. 6 Rolling Hills Prep at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Golden One Center in Sacramento.
“We’re feeling great right now and we’ve really come together as a team at the end of this tournament. I think we can take it all the way.” Menlo sophomore Avery Lee said.
The Knights were led by Lee, and she wasted no time by putting up nine points in the first quarter. Lee would go on to finish the game with 19 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Menlo freshman center Sharon Nejad also played well by contributing 15 points, 10 rebounds, one block and three steals.
Menlo (26-5) led for the entire game and the energy in the gymnasium was electric after the Knights opened up the game with a 9-0 run.
Enterprise struggled early on and their nerves seemed to get the best of them when they turned the ball over five times in the first quarter.
Menlo led 27-14 going into halftime and all 14 of the Hornets points were scored by senior Jadyn Matthews and freshman Abigail Shoff.
Both Matthews and Shoff put together good stat lines that kept their team within striking distance. Matthews finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds while Shoff ended the game with 10 points, six rebounds and three blocks.
The rest of the Hornets combined for just 10 points, and the tenacious defense of the Knights kept Enterprise off-balance all night. Menlo stole the ball 15 times, and consistently got extra possessions by securing 15 offensive rebounds.
Enterprise cut the lead to single digits, 38-30, on the first possession of the fourth quarter, but just as it seemed that the Hornets would mount a comeback, the Knights went on a 15-4 run to put the game out of reach.
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Dirk van Ulden said:
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