Riordan's `exclamation point' dunk turns tide against Mitty
SANTA CLARA >> When Archbishop Riordan wing Kaia Berridge jumped, his Archbishop Mitty defender did the same. With every eyeball in Santa Clara University's Leavey Center fixed upon the senior wing, the crowd of thousands simultaneously created a collective “oooooh” sound in anticipation of the incredible.
Berridge rewarded the masses with the dunk of the year.
Ignoring both his defender and earth's gravity, Berridge cocked his right arm back and proceeded to slam the most deafening two points of his career late in the fourth quarter of the Central Coast Section Open Division boys championship game.
“I was like, `I hope he jumps with me' and then I punched it on him,” Berridge said. “That was the best dunk of my career.”
There were still two and a half minutes left in Riordan's 59-53 win, but the dunk gave the Crusaders the juice they needed to close out the program's second Open title in the past three seasons.
“Whew, that was the exclamation point,” Riordan coach Joe Curtin said. “After that dunk went down, I knew we were going to win the game.”
Riordan should receive a good seed in the NorCal Open Division bracket, the highest level, when the matchups are released today.
Friday's slugfest showed that the Crusaders are capable of winning any kind of game against NorCal's elite.
After defeating Mitty in overtime during their first matchup this season, and blowing out the Monarchs by 20 in the second, Riordan's third victory over the San Jose school was an oldfashioned defensive struggle between the best teams in the West Catholic Athletic League and the CCS.
Mitty turned the game into a halfcourt affair, and usually up-tempo Riordan was more than happy to oblige on a night when space was earned and every shot was contested. Riordan led 24-21 at halftime, and 40-36 after three quarters.
“The guys left it all on the floor,” Mitty coach Tim Kennedy said.
A 7-0 Riordan run late in the third, which consisted of one Berridge 3-pointer, an Andrew Hilman coastto-coast layup and a rare easy dunk in transition for Hilman, put the Crusaders up 40-31.
Mitty responded by scoring the final five points of the quarter, the last basket being Gavin Ripp's soft hook over 6-foot-10 Nes Emeneke's towering arms. “It's a tough loss, losing to them twice now in the finals,” Ripp said.
CCS Open Division girls
From the opening tip to the final buzzer, there was no doubt which team would be crowned as the CCS Open Division champion at SCU on Friday night.
Archbishop Mitty turned the championship matchup with St. Ignatius, a game that is supposed to be a matchup between the two best teams in the section, into another opportunity to show why the Monarchs are the best team in the country.
“Winning CCS titles never gets old,” Mitty coach Sue Phillips said.
The final score somehow still understated the gulf in talent between the teams.
Even with UConn commit Morgan Cheli out with an undisclosed injury, and future Lehigh forward Belle Bramer sitting with an injury, too, Mitty had no problem dispatching the San Francisco school. St. Ignatius' players tried their best, throwing every coverage and look they could devise at the Mitty juggernaut.
But no strategy or tactic could stop McKenna Woliczko from scoring 30 points on an array of turnaround jumpers and layups while blocking four shots, or Elana Weisman from putting in 18 points, or Emma Cook from dropping in 10 on determined drives.
“In my opinion, nobody can stop McKenna, especially in the post,” Weisman said.