Dominican rally falls short in PacWest tournament loss
Second seed Dominican University of California suffered a 71-62 semifinal loss to No. 3 Concordia University in the PacWest Conference women's basketball tournament to conclude its season.
Redshirt senior Brittney Cedeno led the Penguins with 13 points, seven rebounds, an assist and two blocks, with sophomore Alaiyah San Juan also adding 13 points. Junior Jenna Duley contributed 11 points and four rebounds, while sophomore Mikayla Amoroso and freshman Keyonee Neal both added 10 points with Neal doing so in just 18 minutes of playing time.
Dominican found early success from deep in the first quarter, shooting 2-of-3 from deep with San Juan tallying the Penguins first bucket off a corner-3. The long ball was the last time that Dominican would find the twine over the next seven minutes of play as CUI went on a commanding 13-0 run to place the Penguins in a deficit they would spend the entirety of the game attempting to overcome. Duley would bring her team back within single digits with a long ball to conclude the quarter but Dominican found itself trailing by nine after scoring just eight point in the opening frame with the score reading 17-8.
Dominican looked more like itself in the ensuing frame as the two sides spent the entire second quarter exchanging shots. Senior Maiya Flores, Amoroso and Duley combined for baskets on three consecutive possessions, all from close range, as the Penguins pounded the paint to find themselves trailing by just seven midway through the quarter. The seven-point disadvantage was the closest they would come, through, as the Golden Eagles took a 33-24 lead into half time.
Girls basketball
Rosie Slayen had one of the best game of her young career Thursday night as she helped carry the Branson School girls to a berth in Saturday's NorCal Division III basketball semifinals. The defending CIF State Division IV champions, the Bulls (20-12) are closing in on another trip to Sacramento with their eyes on the pennant, but they have to get past No. 3 Colfax (32-2), the Pioneer Valley League champion.
Slayen was a freshman on last year's State championship team and has picked up her game this season, even stoking the fire during the playoffs. She led all scorers with 31 points Thursday as the No. 2 Bulls rolled to a 61-49 victory over No. 7 Foothill. Senior Hannah Golan brought home 14 points for Branson, which also got scoring from starters Avery Myerberg (7), Jackie Rogers (6) and Georgia Oliver (3).
Swimming
Both the Tam High girls and boys teams defeated Archie Williams in the first dual meet of the season Friday evening. The Tam girls, led by the double victories of freshman Annika Hakes in the 200 IM and 100 butterfly, won 109-76. The Tam boys won 100-66, led by the double wins of junior Andrew Sternfels in the 100 fly and 100 backstroke, and senior Fred Goldstein in the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke. Other winners for Tam included senior Cole Stanford in the boys 500 freestyle, sophomore Elle Philp in the girls 100 back and junior Chloe Firmage in the 100 breast. Tam's Claire Rubenstein and Cameron Collman won the diving competition.
Boys tennis
The Branson School swept San Marin, 7-0, Friday. The Bulls' No. 2 doubles pair of Zander Alpert and Ryder Lariviere held on for a 7-6 (2), 6-2 win, followed by a 7-5, 6-0 win at No. 1 doubles by James Stovell and Andrew Peng in the most closely-contested matches of the day.
Max Goldman completed the sweep with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Jesse Chi at No. 1 singles.
• San Domenico narrowly lost to host College Prep, 4-3, Thursday at Chabot Canyon Racquet Club. The Panthers received singles wins at No. 2 from Charlie Aspatore 7-6 (8-6), 6-4, and No. 3 from Parker Sadzeck 6-3, 6-2, as well as the No. 2 doubles team of David Nemec and Drake Fruhauf 6-1, 2-6, (10-6).