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Savanna’s girls basketball players jogged off the court for the final time Saturday to a chorus of “We are proud of you!” from their fans and cheerleaders.
The heart-felt chants didn’t sway the mood in the Rebels’ locker room after their 44-37 loss to Escondido Charter in the Division V semifinals of the CIF Southern California Regional at Savanna High.
Coach Ramez Michail’s team had improved so much, and come so far in the postseason, its expectations were high of moving within one victory of qualifying for the state championship in Sacramento.
“The expectation was to win the game so this is a hard pill to swallow,” said Michail, in his third season. “Hopefully (our players) are thinking about next year and using that as fuel. But I think they’re a little disappointed in themselves right now.”
And just that Savanna held such high expectations showed its growth. The Rebels missed the playoffs last season in the Orange League and finished 7-14.
But this winter, Savanna (26-8) placed second in league and secured the No. 1 seed for the CIF-SS Division 5AA playoffs. The school reached the semifinals for the first time to qualify for the regional for the first time.
The Rebels were seeded second in SoCal with a starting lineup featuring two sophomore and three juniors.
“It was a great season,” Michail said. “It was something that we couldn’t have written better. The expectations of the group just continued to grow and rise as the season went on. I think we started realizing really what we could do.”
Savanna led 20-17 at halftime but No. 6 Escondido Charter switched to a 1-3-1 half-court press to start the second half and seized the momentum.
The Division 4 champion from the San Diego Section opened the third quarter with an 11-0 run and held Savanna scoreless until a foul shot by Camaila Carigma with 2:49 left in the period.
Escondido Charter forced 11 turnovers in the third and led 33-25 going into the fourth as it advanced to play No. 1 Montgomery in the regional final Tuesday.
“We needed that,” Escondido Charter coach Ben Brinkman said of the 1-3-1press. “I saved it because I thought they were probably making adjustments for what we were doing.”
“They’re a great team,” he added of Savanna. “They were fast. Normally people can’t keep up with our point guard (Noelle Champagne) but they had three players who could keep up with her.”
Champagne scored 10 of her game-high 14 points in the first half and sank a 3-pointer in the third.
“We just had a hard time executing,” Michail said of the 1-3-1 press. “We weren’t 100 percent prepared for that. That’s on me.”
Carigma, a sophomore guard, made a driving layup while being fouled to trim the Rebels’ deficit to 37-33 with 3:15 left in the fourth. The ensuing free throw bounced out and CC Goss of Escondido Charter capitalized with a 3-pointer to help seal the victory.
Carigma paced Savanna with 12 points while Ashley Zarate came off the bench to score 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers.
Carigma and Dyanna Cruz took defensive charges to help lead the Rebels’ defense.
Escondido Charter held a rebounding advantage but Savanna’s Elena Walgenbach and Sofia Gonzalez grabbed six and five rebounds, respectively.
“This is a good stepping stone for us to next year,” Michail said. “We kind of set the bar pretty high for ourselves. … It just wasn’t our time (tonight).”
Escondido Charter, a first-tine section champion in San Diego, extended its winning streak to 17 games. Montgomery claimed the Division 3 title in San Diego.
In Division 2:
Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks 59, Santa Margarita 55: The No. 11 Eagles recovered from an early deficit to tie the score in the second half but couldn’t toppled the host Knights. Senior forward Léa-line Romain had 23 points and 11 rebounds for Santa Margarita (21-13), which made its furthest run in the regional under coach Seyram Bell.
“I’m so proud of my team,” she said. “It wasn’t the end result we wanted but my girls fought every game. They believed in each other and played for each other. You could really see it down the stretch.”
Notre Dame, seeded 10th, advanced to play at No. 4 Harvard-Westlake in the regional final Tuesday.
