The562’s coverage of St. Anthony athletics is sponsored by Jane & B.I. Mais, Class of 1948.
When you play a familiar opponent multiple times in a season, each team has a good idea of what the other side wants to do and can game plan on how to attack them. That was the case Thursday night as St. Anthony found itself playing against a familiar foe as they opened the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs against Del Rey league rival, St. Monica.
In their two league match ups, St. Anthony came away with two wins, but on Thursday it was St. Monica that did just enough to come away with the win defeating the Saints, 70-65.
“We were really up and down,” St. Anthony senior Kadence Lloyd said. “We had our good spurts on offense, but then we wouldn’t play with as much intensity on defense. I think our whole goal was not let them go right and I think we let them go right way too many times. In the end that defeated us.”
St. Anthony was aggressive early, using their speed to get out in transition and thanks to back-to-back threes from Dallyn Knox and Jordyn Washington the Saints took an early 8-2 lead.
However, the Saints offense stalled and the Mariners took advantage of second-chance opportunities to take a 15-13 lead after the first quarter.
St. Monica’s Kim Macias hit a couple of threes in the period to help kickstart her impressive night.
Along with Macias, Baley Prewitt scored a team-high seven points to help the Mariners take the lead.
After some back-and-forth from both teams the game was tied at 27 at halftime.
Those defensive struggles continued in the second half for the Saints as the Mariners continued to get second looks and pushed the lead to 34-29 with 4:39 left in the third period.
St. Monica didn’t let up as a putback by Prewitt gave the Mariners a 38-30 lead with 3 minutes remaining in the third.
St. Anthony didn’t go down without a fight as Laila Hughes and Washington continued to attack the paint as they combined for 11 points in the period to tie the game at 39.
But, for every basket the Saints scored, the Mariners had a response as they took a 46-42 lead heading into the final period.
For much of the fourth quarter, the Saints and Mariners went back and forth until a layup by Prewitt put the Mariners up for good.
Macias scored a game-high 32 points for St. Monica, while Washington scored a team-high 21 points for the Saints.
