Casa girls press on in NCS

The Casa Grande girls basketball team advances in NCS playoffs with a win over rival Petaluma.|

Casa Grande opened play in the North Coast Section playoffs with a well-earned 45-38 win over cross-town rival Petaluma on Tuesday in the T-Girl gym in front of a large mixed and appreciative crowd.

As expected, the zone pressing game by the Lady Gauchos took an early toll as they rushed to an early 9-0 lead and never trailed. Petaluma cut the margin to six points on four different occasions and came close to getting its supporters into a frenzy mode with one more game-changing big hoop.

It foiled a heroic effort by the T-Girls, who dropped their first game since claiming the Sonoma County League title and following tournament without a loss. This time around, however, the Trojans were without 5-foot, 11-inch center Jaden Krist, who fractured her tibia in the opening seconds of the league tournament championship game on Friday. More tests are scheduled for Krist on Thursday.

Coach Dan Sack’s Gauchos took advantage of some soft defense in the paint by pounding the ball into high-scoring center Mia Cain and the senior delivered the goods with a series of twisting soft shots underneath that kept the hosts at bay. Petaluma was awarded the home game in the opening round because it was the champion of its league.

Cain had a terrific game with nine points in the opening half as the Gauchos pulled away to a 19-11 lead at the intermission. Most of her work came on the right side of the glass where she sliced her way to the hoop a step ahead of the T-Girls defenders.

Petaluma defended well enough but could not get anything going except for the driving efforts of sophomore Sheriene Arikat, who made some acrobatic but off-balance, shots. Arikat had only four points in the first half, but five of her shots bounced off the front rim. A couple of her hoops would have made the difference in her first start of the season. She finished the game solidly with 12 points.

Leading ball-handler Kaleigh Pate knocked in a pair of shots from outside the arc and finished with eight points, with reserve Angelina Scaccalosi tossing in six.

Coach Jon Ratshin rotated most of his Petaluma players for short bursts, but the game was always in reach and the hard-working T-Girls appeared to be just one basket away from turning the game into a genuine thriller. It was the second contest between the two teams this season, with the more experienced front line of the Gauchos making the difference.

Without question, the difference maker in the contest was Cain. Her 13 points in the final stanza kept the T-Girls from closing the gap.

The reliable senior could not contain a big post-game smile as her team moved ahead to play No. 1 seed Miramonte in the second round at Orinda on Friday in the East Bay.

“We have never won an NCS playoff game since I started playing here,” she said. “I’m going to enjoy this for a while. Miramonte is very good. Coach Sack took us to one of their games late in the season.

“I think he wanted us to see what a good program they run. They will be tough for us, but I am looking forward to it.”

Cain had her best production of the season with 26 points.

“I probably won’t play basketball after this season,” she added. “I plan to go into nursing, and that combination doesn’t mix.”

Hannah Sullivan had six points for the Lady Gauchos in the first half, while freshman Sophea Gardea chipped in with five in addition to playing a good floor game. Gardea was able to drive from the perimeter and make some productive passes to Cain on the way to the basket.

The Gauchos, after playing a more difficult schedule this season, improved to 15-12, and guaranteed another winning campaign under Sack.

It was a very successful season for the T-Girls, who ended the year by nabbing both their league title and the SCL tournament trophy.

“This season was very exciting for our girls,” noted Ratshin at the end of a 23-6 campaign.

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