Staying focused
Mitty continues to pile up wins as playoffs approach
The rankings tell what kind of season this has been for the Archbishop Mitty girls basketball team. The deeply talented Monarchs are No. 1 in the state, No. 1 in the national computer rankings and No. 6 in the national writers’ poll, according to MaxPreps.
They’ll no doubt be the favorite when the playoffs start next week. But as the game Friday at St. Francis showed, they’re maybe not invulnerable.
With less than two minutes to play in the third quarter, Mitty trailed by 11 points.
The Monarchs ultimately rallied to win by six — their closest game in weeks — and left the gym that night believing that the close call was something they needed with the season’s biggest games upcoming.
“It really gives us a reality check that we can’t take any practices off, any games off,” Saint Mary’sbound Madeline Holland said. “We always have to go 110 percent, and I think that’s what we did in the second half.”
The Mitty program under coach Sue Phillips has done some pretty spectacular things — 20 league championships, including the one it clinched Friday, 18 Central Coast Section titles, 11 Northern California championships and six state titles.
But in the state’s Open Division era, which began in 2013, this is Phillips’ best. Mitty is an ideal blend of talent, youth and experience. Its leading scorer is 6-foot-1 sophomore Haley Jones, followed by Holland, a senior. They’re the only players on the roster who average double figures in scoring, but hardly the only ones capable of lighting up a scoreboard.
Friday, junior Karisma Ortiz took advantage of the defensive attention some her teammates received, scoring 24 points — most after halftime — to fuel the comeback.
“The funny thing about Karisma is she doesn’t have to score 20 for us to be successful, but she can,” Phillips said.
Mitty (21-2, 9-0) had played only two games this season decided by single digits before Friday — a 76-75 overtime win over Clovis West and a 54-53 loss to Grandview of Aurora, Colorado.
Since its only other loss, 71-53 to St. John’s of Washington D.C. in December, Mitty has won 15 games in a row by an average of 28.4 points per game.
“They’re very good,” St. Francis coach Brian Harrigan said. “Great respect for the job that Sue does. Great players. I love the way they play. They’re first class. There’s no funny business. They just play the game hard the way it’s supposed to be played.”
The product is not finished as Phillips said she continues to use different combinations and schemes that she thinks will pay off later in the season.
“I would like to be further along in some schemes and some areas,” Phillips said. “But I really like our ability to go with different lineups and do different things.”
A potential rematch against perennial power Pinewood looms in the Central Coast Section Open Division playoffs. But Phillips hesitates to peek that far ahead, noting that she is only focused on the next game.
“We don’t want to waste a day,” Phillips said. “Every day we are continuing to fine-tune some things.”