SANTA ANA – Katie Lou Samuelson’s jumper was consistently finding nylon.
Whether it was in transition or in Mater Dei’s half court sets, Andee Velasco either made the right pass or knocked down the shot she had created.
And on the rare occasion a Monarchs’ attempt rimmed out early on, Ally Rosenblum and Emma Torbert were fighting for position underneath the basket, boarding and diving for the loose ball.
The Monarchs played as well as they possibly could have on both ends of the court Wednesday night, validating its top seeding in a lopsided win, 77-42, over No. 16 J.W. North of Riverside in the first round of the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs.
“I thought we played really hard and I think we were ready to go,” Mater Dei coach Kevin Kiernan said. “Our seniors were great in the first half. Lou had 28 and we sat her for most of the second. And she does that against teams that are trying to take her away. It’s just hard to actually do it.”
With Mater Dei and Brea Olinda winning on Wednesday, Orange County fans will get the treat they were all hoping for when the seedings were released. Mater Dei will travel to take on Brea Olinda in the second round, pitting the county’s top two ranked teams off against one another in a must-see matchup.
“We know that we’re playing at their place,” Samuelson said. “That’s going to be extremely tough, but I think it’s going to be good for us. We haven’t had a really tough away game in a while.”
Samuelson finished 11-for-19 from the field with four made 3-pointers in just 2 1/2 quarters of work. Velasco chipped in with 13 in that same time frame, and Rosenblum added another 13 in just over three quarters.
The Monarchs (26-1) led by 14 points after the first quarter and took a 45-19 edge into the break. While Mater Dei shot 67 percent from the field in the first half and drilled seven 3’s, the Huskies struggled to go 10-of-25 from the floor in addition to turning the ball over 13 times in the first half.
Ke Shara Scott led all North scorers with 13 points and finished as the lone Huskies player in double figures.
Mater Dei opened the third quarter on a 10-0 run, and led by as many as 42 points after intermission.
The Huskies (17-8) will play Centennial of Corona in the consolation bracket on Tuesday night.
