SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – For the first time in school history, the JSerra girls basketball program is headed to a CIF championship game.
Four of the Lions’ five starters tallied double-digit points as JSerra defeated Rosary, 51-39, on Saturday night in the CIF-SS Division 4AA semifinals at JSerra High.
The top-seeded Lions (21-9) will play the division’s No. 2 seed, Bishop Montgomery of Torrance, at Azusa Pacific University next weekend. JSerra has already defeated the Knights this season, 54-45, in a December tournament game.
“I’m thrilled for the kids,” said JSerra coach Mary Rossignol. “We’re here because of defense and rebounds. The kids understand how to play defense and they just totally bought into it.”
Saturday’s meeting with Rosary (17-14) was the third encounter between the two Trinity League schools this season. The familiarity of playing against a jump-shooting Royals squad seemingly benefitted the Lions on the defensive end.
“We all know it’s hard to beat a team three times in one season, but we prepared all week in practice,” said Lions junior guard Coco Miller. “We knew all they were going to do was shoot, so that was our goal – to crowd up the 3-point line.”
The Royals hit 11 3-pointers in their quarterfinal playoff win last Wednesday night, eight coming from senior guard Clara Linhoff alone.
Lions freshman Lexi Vail hounded Linhoff all night, following the sharpshooter everywhere she went on the floor.
Linhoff was held scoreless in the first half, and finished the game with only five points. Rosary finished 7 of 20 behind the 3-point line as a team.
Corinne Bogle led the Lions with 12 points, while Miller (11), Vail (10) and Megan House (10) all finished in double figures.
Rosary freshman point guard Alli Iannone led all scorers with 18.
