NDB shows its mettle as No. 1 seed vs Terra Nova

“That’s all they talked about nonstop like the last four or five minutes,” Notre Dame-Belmont head coach Sam Rossi said.

So, sitting on 65 points with just over a minute to play, junior Natalie Cabral hit the magic number in style, picking a pass clean on Terra Nova’s side of the court, then storming coast to coast to light up her team’s bench like no other layup amid a doubled-up score could.

“We were excited that we got a chance to keep going in the playoffs,” NDB junior Sammy Kakala said. “But we were also excited that we got to 67 points. And also it was a good steal and a good finish. So, we were just happy that she got it.”

NDB (18-4) had reason to be happy about Kakala’s performance as well, as the adept 5-11 post player recorded a double-double of 18 points and 13 rebounds, while playing in tandem with longtime friend and teammate Mika Cary.

Cary added 13 points, including a 9-for-10 clip from the free-throw line.

“I always say they can look at each other and just know what the other’s going to do,” Rossi said. “I don’t even have a play for it.”

It wasn’t just the Jedi-like performance of the two juniors that fueled NDB’s rout. Senior guard Anani Perez matched Kakala’s game-high of 18 points, and helped fuel a fast 9-0 start to spur her team to a wire-to-wire lead.

“I think throughout the season we’ve had a couple of strong starts like that,” Perez said. “But really, today, we wanted to focus on coming out strong defensively and then our offense would go.”

While NDB was playing its first playoff game after earning a bye through the first two rounds of the Central Coast Section Division IV bracket, Terra Nova (13-11) was into its first quarterfinal since 2022-23 by virtue of a 64-45 win Saturday over Pacific Grove.

“I’ve been coaching these girls for the last five years from eighth grade, all the way to their senior year,” Terra Nova head coach Kawann Summerville said. “So, the expectations was we kind of wanted to improve on the last two years with one-and-done exits. So, I felt like this year we were kind of ready for that.”

Summerville returned with some lofty ambitions midway through the season after missing the first month due to illness. His assistant coaching staff of Kristine Asuncion, Max Sabado and Morgan Vurek led the team to a 3-2 start through December, before the the team got out to a prompt 3-1 start in Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division play with Summerville back at the helm.

While Terra Nova settled for third place in the PAL Ocean, and the team is losing four senior starts to graduation, Summerville said he is confident of a promotion to the PAL Bay Division next season.

“We’re losing a lot of seniors,” Terra Nova junior Reese Kelley said. “I’m the only junior. So, it’s going to be tough, but we have a bunch of younger people.”

Despite NDB pacing an early difference on the scoreboard — lengthening the lead in the second quarter when Perez and Cabral rained down back-to-back 3-pointers — Terra Nova showed some energy in the second half. Summerville’s squad won the third quarter 14-12, but NDB was keen to answer several Terra Nova buckets with quick scores of its own, including a smooth pull-up midrange J from senior Gabby Dyogi to cut the deficit to 47-29 heading into the fourth quarter.

Terra Nova bigs Helena Pierson-Villegas and Brianna Brammer spent the first eight minutes of the half trying to beat up Kakala in the post. So, Kakala used the fourth quarter to do things a lot of bigs can’t do by showing off footwork and finesse, totaling seven points in the final period while ripping down two of her six offensive boards on the night.

“I definitely feel like they got more physical as the game went on,” Kakala said. “Because they saw that I could attack and I could shoot more midrange and further from the basket. But, I feel like I could adjust to what they were doing to me because in practice I’m used to everyone being more competitive, and we’re so physical in practice. And it was easy to make adjustments to that.”

Kelley finished with a team-high 11 points for Terra Nova, while Dyogi scored eight points.

NDB now advances to the CCS semifinals for the second straight year to earn a rematch of last season’s 51-26 loss to eventual Division IV champion Menlo. This year, it’s advantage NDB, as the Tigers will host the No. 4-seed Lady Knights Thursday evening.

“If you go back probably the last couple of years, it has been a great rivalry,” Rossi said. “All the games have been close, minus a few, which was last year’s semi.”