SAN JOSE — It has been 3,647 days since Archbishop Mitty women basketball misplaced a recreation in West Catholic Athletic League play.
That 10-year streak reached 100 consecutive wins on Friday towards St. Ignatius. Tuesday, the Monarchs had been again residence in San Jose for senior evening to welcome in Archbishop Riordan.
The Crusaders had performed Mitty harder than some other WCAL group this season, dropping 56-42 in San Francisco on Jan. 21. And after a half, Riordan solely trailed 30-22.
Then Mitty showcased why it hasn’t misplaced a WCAL matchup in a decade. The Monarchs exploded out of the halftime break, mounting a 21-0 run to blitz previous Riordan.
The Crusaders couldn’t cease the oncoming onslaught, and Mitty managed the remainder of the competition to cruise to a 71-50 win.
“Coach (Sue) Phillips is a phenomenal coach,” mentioned Riordan coach Will Watkins. “She made an adjustment, and we didn’t adjust well enough to it. So that’s pretty much the biggest thing. We’ve got to be able to make better decisions there against the pressure.”
Riordan (15-7, 6-4 WCAL) dealt with Mitty’s full-court press properly sufficient within the first half after an 8-0 begin that gave Mitty an early lead. However the Monarchs (19-3, 10-0) turned up the warmth within the third quarter and brought on the Crusaders to show the ball over in bunches.
“I didn’t think we were playing with a level of intensity or ball pressure that we needed to to beat a team like Riordan,” Phillips mentioned of her Mitty squad. “So we picked up the defensive pressure and changed up our schemes a little bit and turned them over. Made some difficult shots. We also got out in transition, which was big. Shot the ball at a higher clip as well.”
Mitty pressured Riordan continually, and the Crusaders began to present approach halfway by way of the third. After scoring on their second possession of the quarter, Riordan then confronted down a virtually nine-minute scoring drought whereas the Monarchs took benefit of a number of steals to get straightforward buckets in transition.
“We got handfuls of stops in a row, so that was great,” Phillips mentioned. “Unfortunately (in the first half), it looked like more of a containment press than speeding somebody up for us. So we started to do that and really made them stretch their offense, extend their passes, try to enter their offense further away from the basket and make them take contested shots. So that did the job.”
On the sideline, Watkins was imploring his group to be aggressive and take the combat to Mitty. It’s a frightening process in any circumstance towards a group of such high quality, however particularly when the Monarchs have the contemporary confidence of 100 straight victories at their again.
“They’re just going to keep coming,” Watkins mentioned. “They’re a good team. We’ve got to watch the film and get better. Honestly, it’s confidence, right? We don’t concentrate on the fact that they’ve won 101. This group for Mitty has won 10 in a row in the league. That’s the way we look at it.
“It has nothing to do with the last nine years. We’re 0-2 against this team.”
For now, Riordan hopes to enhance sufficient to face Mitty yet another time within the playoffs. However as Tuesday evening confirmed, the Crusaders – and the remainder of the WCAL – nonetheless have a methods to go to catch the league’s unquestioned standard-bearer.
“This time of year, it’s going to be about runs,” Phillips mentioned. “So the key is being able to go on runs of your own and capitalize on those turnovers, but then also to weather some of those storms. I thought at times, we played a little hurried unnecessarily offensively. Didn’t take advantage of some mismatches in transition. But we did a much better job in the second half.”
