SANTA ANA – When they made their way out of the locker room at the conclusion of Friday night’s contest, Mater Dei’s senior duo gave off an aura of exhaustion, but for good reason.
Katie Lou Samuelson hit the deck time after time over the course of four physical quarters, while Andee Velasco sported a fresh cut on the neck that she’d picked up at some point in the evening.
Fortunately for the Monarchs, they’ll have a week to recover before they suit up for another shot at the CIF-SS Open Division championship.
Behind Samuelson’s game-high 30 points Friday night, top-seeded Mater Dei knocked off Alemany of Mission Hills, 59-37, in a semifinal slugfest held at Mater Dei High.
The Monarchs (28-1) will play Chaminade of West Hills (24-3), the team responsible for Mater Dei’s lone loss of the season, in the Open Division finale.
“It’s another chance for us to redeem ourselves,” a determined Velasco said after the game. “It’s a chance to finish something we haven’t accomplished yet together, and it’s one of our dreams. We’re finally here, so we’ve got to finish some business.”
This will be Mater Dei’s second consecutive appearance in the Open championship, having lost to Winward of Los Angeles in last season’s inaugural finale.
“We’ve been in this position before so it’s not like we’re going to be nervous or anything,” Samuelson added. “We’ve just got to give it our all. We can’t leave anything else out there.”
The county’s top-ranked team played with that sense of effort and passion Friday night against the fourth-seeded Warriors.
After grabbing a 12-4 lead by the end of the first quarter, Samuelson got herself going from the free throw line in the second, much like she did against Brea Olinda earlier in the week. The 6-foot-3 wing sank 8 of 9 attempts in the second, tallying 15 points for the quarter to give her 20 at the half.
Samuelson finished 16-for-19 at the stripe.
The Monarchs went on to stretch their 30-19 halftime advantage to a 22-point lead by the end of the third. Alemany shot 1 for 9 from the floor in the third, turning the ball over five times while making one free throw for three points.
“Defense was great,” Mater Dei coach Kevin Kiernan said. “We got out of the press a little bit and just wanted to play some half-court man, maybe mix a little zone in there. We said if we held them under 40, we’d have a great chance of going to the finals.”
Velasco finished with 10, and Ally Rosenblum was spectacular down low with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
Mater Dei and Chaminade played on Nov. 29, with the Eagles winning, 60-59.
Contact the writer: kconnolly@ocregister.com