Prep Roundup: Atascadero moves into girls basketball semifinals

Atascadero High girls basketball coach Jim Stecher told his team that if it wanted to advance to the CIF-Southern Section quarterfinals they would have to get aggressive early on the road at La Cañada.

The team listened, storming out to an eight-point halftime lead and holding on for a 53-51 win.

“We talked before the game and knew that if we were going to win we had to jump on them in the first half,” Stecher said. “That’s not always an easy thing to do on the road.”

Raven Taylor scored a team-high 20 points for the Greyhounds (20-4), and Mary-Kate Evans added 14.

Stecher said the Greyhounds’ defensive approach and hard work on the boards were the biggest factors in the victory.

“We were able to get to them defensively,” Stecher said. “We didn’t allow them to set up their offense. Anything they got offensively, they earned it.”

La Cañada (24-3), seeded fourth, got 44 of its 51 points from Mary McCutechon and Tina Chen.

Casey Nero added eight points for 13th-seeded Atascadero, which will play the winner of No. 9 Chaminade and No. 12 Oak Park on Wednesday.

Jurupa Valley 53, Arroyo Grande 49

Jenna Sverchek had a team-high 17 points as the Eagles fell in the second round of the CIF-Southern Section Division 3AA playoffs.

Arroyo Grande (20-7), playing without starters Rachel Ventura, Haley MacDonald and Lindsey Wolfe, led 23-19 at halftime. But Jurupa Valley (19-9) hit 11 3-point shots, including four in the fourth quarter to win the game.

Maddie Carr added 10 points for the Eagles.

Marymount 59, Morro Bay 41

Ciara Ramos led Morro Bay (18-8) with 19 points as the Pirates bowed out in the second round of the CIF-Southern Section Division 4A playoffs.

“We got outplayed by a team that played well tonight, and overall I am proud of our entire season,” Morro Bay coach Cary Nerelli said.

Megan Hansen added 11 points for Morro Bay.

North County Christian 55, Pilgrim 22

The Crusaders (16-5) advanced through the first round of the CIF-Southern Section Division 6A playoffs.

Brianna Feld was the leading scorer with a game-high of 19 points and also added 10 rebounds for the Crusaders, the top-seeded team.

Kelsey Paulus had 10 points,18 rebounds and six steals for the Crusaders, who moved on to a Wednesday quarterfinal game. Christy Scarson added nine points, six steals and seven assists for the Crusaders.

Mission Prep set for CIF-Central Section playoffs

Mission Prep’s boys basketball team earned the No. 2 seed for the CIF-Central Section Division 5 playoffs and will host No. 7 Kings Christian in the quarterfinals at 7 p.m. Thursday.

The Mission Prep girls will be in the Central Section Division 4 playoffs for the second straight season after being bumped up from Division 5. The Royals earned the No. 14 seed and will play at No. 3 Strathmore on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

GIRLS WATER POLO

Arroyo Grande 11, Pacific 3

Arroyo Grande’s Alexa May scored five goals in the second round CIF-Southern Section Division 4 playoff win.

Briana Lippert had 18 saves for Arroyo Grande, and Kylie Anderson added four.

Aly Greene and Kim Johnson scored two goals each for Arroyo Grande (28-3), who will face Cabrillo on Wednesday.

WRESTLING

CIF-Southern Section Coastal Division Individual Championships

Morro Bay finished in the top five out of 50 teams, which is the highest Morro Bay has ever finished, and is sending five wrestlers to the CIF-Southern Section Masters meet.

Dolin Mininni was second at 130 pounds and teammate Frank Martinez took third at 171 pounds.

This is the first time since 2005 that Morro Bay has sent more then three wrestlers to the Masters.

Justin Martinez (152), Aaron Mininni (140) and Kent Beecham (125) all finished fourth and will be going to Masters.

“We are a small school and we are wrestling in a tough division, but our kids stepped up and we had a great weekend and wrestled strong,” Morro Bay coach Michael Aanerud said.

CIF-Southern Section Eastern Division Individual Championships

Atascadero tied for first with Centennial of Corona with 1881⁄2 points and will send seven wrestlers to the Masters meet. Nine of Atascadero’s 14 wrestlers placed in the meet.

Josh Lowe, at 135 pounds, placed second, and teammates Paul Woodmen (140), Ben Giggy (152), Elijah Jackson (145) and Brandon Armstrong (171) all placed third to advance to Masters.

Also advancing to Masters were Steven Trockman (fourth, 189) and Micheal Clemmenson (fifth, 103).

Paso Robles will send two wrestlers to Masters and finished 16th of 41 teams.

Freshmen Kevin Garcia was fourth at 130 and will be the first freshmen in school history going to Masters.

Cesar Delgado finished fifth at 160 to also earn a Masters berth.