SHC routs Heritage in opening round
Sacred Heart Cathedral’s girls basketball team went to great lengths to find its “A” game — especially senior Gianna Silvestri.
The 5-foot-10 guard scored 10 straight points in the second quarter, and made four threepointers overall en route to a game-high 16 points, leading the Irish (12-14) to a 68-50 California Interscholastic Federation Northern California Division 1 first-round win at seventhseeded Heritage-Brentwood (23-8) on Wednesday.
“She can really light it up,” SHC coach LyRyan Russell head. “We’re always trying to get her to shoot it some more.”
Silvestri was just one of many bright lights for the Irish, who had 11 players score, made 18 of 21 free-throw tries and played stellar transition defense.
SHC broke open a close game with a 16-2 run starting late in the third quarter. Amber Gainer came off the bench to start the spurt with two quick buckets before Errayanna Hatfield (10 points) scored six straight, leading to a 24-13 edge in the fourth quarter.
The Patriots, who got 15 points from Bay Valley Athletic League MVP Mikaila Wegenke, 11 by 6-foot-2 post Abigail Muse and 10 from reserve Kiddy Befikadu.
Russell credited playing in the West Catholic Athletic League for the team’s toughness.
“It’s a different monster,” Russell said. “It’s difficult to compete in it night in, night out, but on a night like tonight, it pays off.”
Sacred Heart Cathedral next plays Saturday at Eastside PrepEast Palo Alto (21-6), a 50-29 winner over Oak Ridge-El Dorado Hills (16-14).
Division 1: Clair Steele scored 21 points to lead host Miramonte-Orinda (26-5) to a 73-49 win over Edison-Stockton (23-8), which got 11 points each from Sydney Buckley and Jaliah Williams. Jordyn Bryant had 12 and Rebecca Welsh had 11 for Miramonte, which next plays Antelope (26-5), a 60-57 winner over St. Ignatius (15-12) . ... Presentation (22-5) defeated James LoganUnion City (24-4) and next plays Cosumnes Oaks (25-5), a 70-58 winner at eighth-seeded Castro Valley (23-6).… St. Joseph Notre Dame Alameda (28-4) got past M cC la tc hy Sacramento 47-46 and next faces St. Francis-Mountain View (15-12), a 54-50 winner at Bear Creek (28-4). … Division 2: Seven of the eight home
teams Pleasant prevailed, Valley-Chico though barely top-seeded escaped with a 47-46 win over Sacramento (18-12). Pleasant Valley needed a buzzer-beater to pull out the win. … The only road team to prevail was Del Oro-Loomis (21-10), which won 58-43 over South San Francisco (26-5). … Other winners were Silver Creek-San Jose, Whitney, San Ramon ValleyDanville, Valley Christian-San Jose, Montgomery-Santa Rosa and Eureka.
Division 3: All but one of the home teams prevailed, including another close win for the top seed, in this case, Enterprise-Redding, which eked out a 67-63 win over Oakland (21-8). … Sacred Heart Prep-Atherton (17-10) defeated Campolindo-Moraga 52-40. … Piedmont (23-7) dropped a 59-56 game to River Valley. … The only other Metro Area team to advance was Dublin (25-5), a 62-57 winner over Foothill-Sacramento (25-5).
Division 4: Yasmin Jimenez scored 13 points but Lincoln-San Francisco (25-8) dropped a 64-38 decision at San Joaquin Memorial-Fresno (23-5). … Woodside Priory (14-14) and Notre Dame-Belmont (15-12) won by 24 and 20 points, respectively.
Division 5: Courtney Resch scored 14 points and Ella Pearl added 12 to help lead University (22-9) to a 53-18 win over Western Sierra Collegiate Academy-Rocklin (24-5) at Kezar Pavilion. University dominated the game from the start and led 27-8 at halftime. The top-seeded Red Devils were not threatened by Western Sierra Collegiate Academy, which went undefeated in its league and had a 15-game winning streak snapped in the second round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 5 playoffs. Lily Battat added seven points and Jada Northover and Sydney Spivy each had six for University. Damin Esper contributed to this report.