Notre Dame-Belmont pulls away for win

“We had to get a little scrappy,” said NDB senior wing Emilia Dougherty, who scored seven of her 11 points in the fourth quarter as the Tigers pulled away from the Bulldogs.

NDB (15-12) will host No. 10 Placer at 6 p.m. Saturday in a semifinal game. The Hillmen were a 56-51 upset winner over No. 7 Willows.

It was a far cry from the last time NDB was on the court — a 55-35 blow-out loss to Sacred Heart Prep in the Central Coast Section Division IV championship game. A game which head coach Josh Davenport admitted his team might not have been properly prepared.

“Today we were just more enthusiastic,” Dougherty said. “That was the one thing [Davenport] was telling us during practice, we had no enthusiasm (in the CCS final).”

The Tigers certainly dialed up the intensity knob more than a few notches Wednesday night. After struggling against the Alhambra 2-1-2 zone defense in the first half, NDB held a slim 24-22 lead at halftime.

But the Tigers’ defensive effort in the first half, one that saw them come up with nine steals and force the Bulldogs into six other turnovers, set the tone for the second half. NDB used a suffocating defense to transition into rhythm offense as the Tigers pulled away in the second half, outscoring the Bulldogs 33-15.

“I think we just set the tone with our defense early in the game,” Davenport said.

That hard work defensively, which saw the Tigers come up with eight more steals in the second half, helped on the offensive end in more ways than scoring. After getting dominated on the boards by Alhambra in the second quarter, during which time the Bulldogs rallied from a 20-11 deficit, NDB controlled the offensive glass, which gave them extra possessions and more opportunity to run out the clock.

Of the Tigers’ 14 second-half rebounds, 10 were on the offensive end.

Alaiyah San Juan, a freshman guard, was a major recipient of those extra touches as she drained five 3-pointers on her way to a game-high 19 points. It was the second game in a row San Juan led the Tigers in scoring, but Davenport called her out for her defensive lapses against SHP in the CCS title game.

San Juan certainly showed against Alhambra that she can lock down the opposition when necessary. She swarmed all over her marks all game long, hounding and harassing the Alhambra ball handlers into turnovers and Tigers’ steals.

“She rose to the challenge tonight,” Davenport said. “I told her I needed her to play better defense than on Saturday.”

After leading by two at the break, NDB saw Alhambra take the lead for the first time since the opening basket of the game. Aleena Quintero scored back-to-back buckets for the Bulldogs to open the third period to take a 26-24 lead.

NDB responded with 13 unanswered points to take command of the game. Talia Bertana tied the game at 26 with a baseline jumper, knocked down 1 of 2 free throws after being fouled on a fast break and then finished a layup off the steal to give the Tigers a 29-26 lead with 5:52 left in the third.

Then it was San Juan’s turn to take over. She knocked down a floater off the bounce and then capped the explosion with back-to-back 3s to give the Tigers a 37-26 lead.

Kiera Rios banked home a jumper with under a minute to play in the period for the Bulldogs, who trailed 39-28 going into the fourth.

Laylah Fonseca opened the fourth quarter by banking home a 3 for the Bulldogs to close to 39-31, but NDB came back with a jumper from Gatt and San Juan’s third 3 of the half for a 44-31 advantage.

“[San Juan] is a great player,” Dougherty said. “I think she was the one who really wanted this [game].”

After a second Bulldogs 3, Dougherty went on a personal 6-0 run — converting a layup, draining a 3-pointer and knocking down a baseline jumper — to put the Tigers up 51-34 with just under three minutes to play.

The Tigers still seemed to be dealing with a bout of the post-loss blues as they got off to a slow start to the game. When Alhambra’s Rios hit 1 of 2 free throws, the Bulldogs led 5-4 with 4:53 left in the opening quarter. NDB closed with a 10-3 run to lead 14-8 after eight minutes.

The Tigers pushed their lead 20-11 when Taylor McDonald came up with a steal and hit the layup while being fouled.

Taylor would finish with nine points for the Tigers.

But Alhambra mounted a rally, closing the half on a 11-4 run — including a long 3 from Michaela Rezentez at the buzzer — to trail by just two at halftime.

“It was a scrappy effort by both teams,” Davenport said.

In other Nor Cal action, Woodside Priory, the top seed in Division IV, also advanced to the semifinals with a 62-38 win over No. 16 Moreau Catholic-Hayward. The Panthers will host No. 8 St. Bernard’s-Eureka, a 52-50 winner over No. 9 Kimball.

Sacred Heart Prep, the No., 8 seed in Division III, handled No. 9 Campolindo-Moraga, 52-40. The Gators will now be on the road to No. 1 Enterprise-Redding at 6 p.m. Saturday. The Hornets held off No. 16 Oakland, 67-63.

Division II was not a good one for county teams. South City, the No. 7 seed, was knocked off by No. 10 Del Oro-Loomis, 58-43. Menlo-Atherton, seeded 11th, was taken out by No. 6 Montgomery-Santa Rosa, 50-44, while No. 13 Menlo School was eliminated by No. 4 San Ramon Valley-Danville, 73-54.