Sonora girls knocked out of playoffs by No. 6 Liberty Ranch 49-43

The Sonora Wildcats girls basketball team had their playoff dreams come to an end Tuesday night as they were unable to topple the No. 6 seed Liberty Ranch Hawks in Galt, falling 49-43.

Sonora fought hard, with star point guard Adeline Hanson netting a game-high five 3-point baskets in the loss, but it wasn’t enough to counter the scoring burst from Liberty Ranch freshman Haley Smith, who finished with 30 points.

“They played hard. We missed a few free throws, missed some easy buckets that we needed to finish on,” Sonora head coach Shelly Kiriluk said. “Honestly, they were the better team that night.”

The Hawks were led by Smith, who had been the team’s top scorer all season, but were missing senior point guard Skylar Jordet. In Jordet’s stead, Smith went ballistic for Liberty Ranch to score 30 points and serve as the team’s offensive engine.

Smith hit five 3-pointers on the night, and was physical in her attacks to the rim. She either scored or was fouled on the vast majority of her drives, and was a perfect 8 of 8 at the free throw line.

Kiriluk was impressed by Smith’s ability to do so much for the Hawks within their fiveout offensive scheme, which allowed her the space to get scoring moves off with ease.

“They do a five-out offense, so she cuts and goes — she is all over,” Kiriluk said. “She got hot, and I want to say we didn’t leave her wide open … she can shoot inside, outside. She’s a good all-around player.”

Meanwhile, it was Sonora’s frontcourt which bore the brunt of Smith’s downhill attack. Starting forwards Mia Alomia and Gracie Bearden — essential players in Sonora’s scheme on both ends of the floor — got in foul trouble and had to spend key stretches on the bench.

“That hurts, when you have got your leading scorer on the bench and your leading rebounder on the bench … but then the girls that came in did a good job, I had (Maddyn) Suess and (Cailey) Silva, they came in and they kept us in it. What I think was the difference was that it was physical, which was hard for us.”

The Wildcats were able to take a commanding 19-9 lead early in the second quarter, but the Hawks battled back to tie things up at 2121 at the half. The third quarter was a pivotal one, as the Hawks were able to score 16 points while the Wildcats could manage only 9 points.

“We had a good fourth quarter, we had 12 points in the fourth quarter, but we were already behind,” Kiriluk said.

The Wildcats finished the 2022-23 season, which saw notable development among its younger players, with an overall record of 14-12.