Lady Dons deliver CCS title

But it was her final assist of the afternoon that paved the way to the Dons’ first CCS girls’ basketball title. After driving to the baseline, Manu found freshman Jordan Beaumont stationed behind the 3-point arc at the top of the key. Manu threaded a pass through the middle of the key to Beaumont, who buried a 3 to turn the Dons’ one-shot deficit into a 49-48 lead with 51 seconds left as the second-seeded Dons went on beat the fourth-seeded Vikings, 53-48.

“We have three freshmen who play a lot of minutes,” Aragon head coach Sam Manu said. “They want to prove they can hit the 3. There’s ice in their veins.”

Beaumont would go on to finish with eight points, all in the second half, including two clutch 3s and a floater from the baseline.

With the win, the Dons qualified for the Northern California regional beginning this week. Seeded No. 9 in the CIF Division III bracket, Aragon opens Tuesday at No. 8 Eureka at 7 p.m.

While it was Beaumont who hit the key bucket down the stretch, Aragon (17-11) would not even have been in position to win the game if not for Lydia Manu’s performance. With the rest of the team struggling to find offense, it was she who consistently kept the Dons in the game with clutch baskets. She accounted for half of Aragon’s second-half points (13 of 26) after going for 15 in the first two quarters.

“We needed her,” said Sam Manu, who is also Lydia’s father. “She’ll often do that (take over games), but we were stagnant (offensively).”

Lydia Manu, as the Dons’ leading scorer, is used to leading the offensive charge. But she does not do so selfishly. She lets the game come to her.

“At some point, I felt I was doing too much,” Lydia Manu said.

But doing too much was necessary as the rest of the Dons combined for 25 points. Lynbrook (22-5) was paced by Sara Ho, who finished with 15 points. Lydian Li added 14 and Kavita Thirumaran finished with 11.

After Beaumont’s 3 with under a minute to play, Lydia Manu still had to close the deal. She came up with a steal on Lynbrook’s ensuing possession after Beaumont’s dagger, jumping the passing lane and drawing an intentional foul going the other way.

Lydia Manu said it was weird to stand at the free-throw line without the teams lined up around the key. Because it was an intentional foul, it is treated as a technical, meaning the shooter is all alone at the line.

“I’ve never had one of those before,” Lydia Manu said. “It was awkward. I was saying (to myself), ‘Lord, this is your game.’”

Manu made 1 of 2 and finished 4 of 6 from the line down the stretch to preserve the win.

The Dons got off to a strong start. After Lydia Manu opened the scoring with a 3, Aragon used an 8-0 run to take an 11-5 lead halfway through the opening period. Savannah Mapa scored on a putback, followed by a Jalene Parangan bucket on the third attempt. Mapa scored on a jump hook and Lydia Manu had a putback.

Offensive rebounding proved to be the difference in the first quarter as six of the Dons’ nine first-quarter rebounds were of the offensive variety.

Lydia Manu’s second 3 of the quarter gave Aragon a 16-10 lead, but Lynbrook closed the first quarter with back-to-back buckets to close to 16-14.

The Dons slowed down in the second as the Vikings picked up their scoring pace. Ho scored the first two buckets on the quarter to give Lynbrook an 18-16 lead. After Parangan hit a pair from the line, the Vikings scored the next seven points for a 25-18 lead with 3:13 left in the first half.

Lydia Manu’s third 3 of the half tied the game at 27, but the Vikings went into the locker room at halftime with a 29-27 advantage.

“[Lynbrook] lit us up,” Coach Manu said. “They had us on our heels.”

Aragon’s offensive struggles continued in the third quarter as the Dons could not find any cracks in the Vikings’ zone defense. The Dons were getting quality looks, their shots just weren’t falling. They had a hard time involving their post players and since they were no longer getting as many looks around the basket, the Dons’ offensive rebounding prowess more or less dried up.

“We never drove that zone,” Coach Manu said.

A Beaumont baseline floater gave Aragon a 39-38 lead with 3:27 left in the third, but the Dons did not score again in the period. Thirumaran gave the lead back to Lynbrook, 40-39, and Ho pushed the lead to 43-39 going into the fourth when she buried a 3 following a Vikings’ offensive rebound.

In the fourth, it became the Lydia Manu show as she scored nine of her team’s 14 fourth-quarter points. A Parangan scoop closed the Dons’ deficit to 48-46 with 3:29 left in the game. The Dons then went more than three minutes before Beaumont’s big shot with 51 seconds to play, which gave Aragon only its second lead of the second half.

“Every single year we’re working toward this. This is the result of all the hard work this team put in,” Lydia Manu said. “The goal at the start of every season is to get to the (CCS) championship game and show out.”

Division V

No. 1 Woodside Priory 60, No. 2 Notre Dame-Salinas 37

Ila Lane scored 20 points to help lead the Panthers to their third straight CCS Division V title as they cruised past the Spirit at Palo Alto High School Saturday afternoon.

Priory (14-12) took control of the game in the first quarter, outscoring ND-Salinas (12-13) 17-4. The Spirit showed better in the second quarter, posting 14 points, but still trailed 33-18 at the break.

Priory went on to outscore the Spirit 27-19 in the second half to pull away for the win.

Aniyah Augmon, who transferred from Silver Creek, also finished with 20 points for Priory, while Annabelle North added 12 points on four 3-pointers.