Salesian dances its way to CIF State Division I title
SACRAMENTO >> Before his team played Archbishop Mitty for a championship in Hawaii during the holiday season, Salesian girls basketball coach Stephen Pezzola told his players he'd break out his dance moves if they won.
The Richmond school lost by three.
Pezzola didn't dance that night, but he gave the players a second chance.
“I'm not going to do it unless you guys win the state,” he told them.
Friday night, Pezzola did some dancing at the Golden 1 Center after the Pride beat Windward of Los Angeles 62-51 to capture its first state championship in the program's history.
Salesian had made three previous trips to the state finals, all under Pezzola. The Pride lost in Division IV in 2012 and 2013 and the Open Division in 2014.
“This is better,” Pezzola said while surrounded by his players during a postgame news conference. “The trophy is bigger. My girls get a little bit more attention
and publicity, which I love because it's all about them. I think this year we truly deserve it.”
Leading 25-22 at halftime, Salesian (21-5) quickly fell behind to start the third quarter. Skye Belker, who finished with 21 points, scored on a three-point play and Samari Bankhead sank 1 of 2 free throws to give Windward a 26-25 advantage.
Salesian didn't blink. By the end of the third quarter, the Pride had
opened a 14-point lead. The margin widened to 16 early in the fourth quarter and only got below 10 once down the stretch, 6051 with 34 seconds to play.
Salesian's Silivia Fonongaloa led the way with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Makiah Asidanya and Nevaeh Asiasi finished with 11 points apiece. Two others — Kaylie Edge and Sofia Fidelus — combined for 13 points.
Fonongaloa overcame illness and rough stretches
during the season to lead the Pride in its biggest games, including the double-double in the state final.
“It feels great that I had that and it feels great to win,” Fonongaloa said. “It was a team effort.”
Windward coach Ronald Cass said depth was a factor, noting that some of his players couldn't make the trip. He didn't elaborate. Windward finished 23-11. “They're a really great team,” Cass said about Salesian. “We don't really go too
deep. Fatigue kind of got to us in the end.”
Salesian has dealt with its own issues. In addition to a challenging non-league schedule that included the likes of Mitty and DeSoto (Texas), the team had to push pause for nearly a month because of health and safety protocols related to the pandemic.
The Pride wasn't at full strength when it lost to San Ramon Valley in the North Coast Section Open Division playoffs but didn't lose again, beating Acalanes, Laguna Creek-Elk Grove, Bishop O'Dowd and St. Ignatius to claim the NorCal Division I title and earn a date with Windward on Friday.
In the SI game, Salesian lost Ariel Anderson in the final minute to a leg injury. She did not play Friday.
“We lose her, but then we step up,” Pezzola said. “Everybody we put in, they do the job. They know their role and they're good basketball players.”
The coach added, “I am really proud of these young ladies, how hard they fought the whole year. We had some adversity. We had some injuries. We had some illness. And we kind of coalesced at the end to get the job done.
“Our motto was strength in numbers. It's maybe something that coaches would just want to say. But I didn't come up with it. Our team came up with it. We had 14 players to start, and they all can play basketball. Tonight really epitomizes it. We had 12 people play and everybody got after it.”
When it ended, there was only one thing left to do.
Pezzola had to dance.