Cardinal Newman ready for test
Monica Mertle listened to the question patiently, blinked hard a couple of times and smiled politely.
The Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa girls basketball coach was asked just how daunting a task it is to be traveling to Stockton on Friday to face the nation’s No. 5 team, St. Mary’s-Stockton, in a CIF Open Division firstround game.
“We enjoy being the underdog,” she said. “We’re looking forward to competing on the big-girl basketball stage. But believe me, with everything that has happened this year, not a lot is going to scare us.”
The Cardinals (27-5) endured more than what most in the region experienced six months ago: the Tubbs Fire, the most destructive wildfire in California history, which claimed 25 lives, destroyed more than 5,550 structures and caused an estimated $1.2 billion damage.
It wiped out half the Cardinal Newman campus, leveled adjacent neighborhoods to ash and left thousands homeless, including about 100 Newman students.
One of those was senior Maiya Flores, a four-year starter and All-North Bay League guard. On Saturday, she became the school’s career leading scorer — either gender — at 1,564 points.
It came during a 50-46 loss to Salesian-Richmond at St. Mary’s College in the North Coast Section Division 2 championship game. She called it a “very cool accomplishment for sure, something I’ll always treasure.”
That the historic moment came during a defeat epitomized what Flores called “a very different, up-and-down season and school year.”
“Honestly, it’s probably been my favorite because we’ve all become so close,” she said. “In one way or another, we’ve all been so impacted by the fires. It made our school so much closer. It’s awful that it happened, but we’re definitely all more grateful to just be here together.”
The Cardinals were in the middle of fall conditioning when the fire struck. The school was closed for two weeks before students and players were separated into four satellite campuses, based on years in school.
With four seniors, two juniors, five sophomores and three freshmen, the tightly knit group was dispersed throughout the day. When the players finally did practice starting in November — at noon at Santa Rosa Junior College — Mertle gave them 10 minutes to simply reconnect socially.
“They needed that,” she said. “They needed each other during a really tough time. They needed normalcy.”
Basketball gave them more than that.
“Basketball was their refuge,” Mertle said. “It was their place of happiness, a place to find their joy. They were able to get away from the sadness, the anger, the frustration of not being on campus.”
After two hours of practice, the team spent two hours at the SRJC library in study hall. Mertle tried to fit in team meetings and video sessions, but it wasn’t easy. They made it work until Jan. 22, when they returned to campus and could begin playing home games.
The Cardinals played their first 20 games on the road and were 16-4. They’ve gone 11-1 since then.
“Frankly, it’s unbelievable how far we’ve come,” Mertle said. “Regardless of how things turn out Friday and beyond, this is the greatest year the program has ever had.”
That’s saying something because Mertle, a 33-year-old Ursline and St. Mary’s College alum, took over the program in 2011.
She has turned it into a legitimate state power, going 167-53 with a state Division 4 crown in 2015-16 (31-5 record). Last year (30-4), Cardinal Newman reached the Open Division NorCal final, knocking off higher seeds Carondelet-Concord and Pinewood-Los Altos Hills on the road.
They lost two college-bound, All-Metro players in 6-foot-5 Lauren Walker and 6-3 Hailey Vice-Neat to graduation. The transition to go small — their tallest player this season is 5-10 Arie Searcy — already was going to be challenging.
But despite the lack of size and the devastation of the wildfires, the Cardinals are back in the most prestigious division of California basketball.
“Honestly, in Division 1, I’m sure we could have gone far into NorCals,” Flores said. “But why can’t we do the same in the Open Division, too? There’s nothing we can’t accomplish or overcome. I truly believe that.”