SACRAMENTO – Forget the national rankings, blowouts and championships Archbishop Mitty piled up this winter. The season was going to come down to one game, 32 minutes, against the best team from Southern California.
Etiwanda was that team on Saturday night, just as it was last year.
And this time, the SoCal team did not need a shot at the buzzer to topple Mitty.
Etiwanda took control in the first quarter, suffocating Mitty with a matchup zone that kept the San Jose school’s best players from having any impact, and did not let up.
When it was over, the Eagles celebrated a second consecutive California Interscholastic Federation Open Division state championship, beating previously undefeated Mitty 60-48 at Golden 1 Center.
Behind a star-studded roster that includes USC-bound McDonald’s All-American Kennedy Smith, junior point guard Aliyahna “Puff” Morris and 6-3 transfer Grace Knox, Etiwanda was a step or two faster, more tenacious on the glass and much more efficient shooting the ball.
Archbishop Mitty’s McKenna Woliczko (20) reaches for a rebound against Etiwanda’s Arynn Finley (2) in the second quarter of the CIF State Basketball Championship Open Division Girls game at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Calif., on Saturday, March 9, 2024. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
It all added up to a disaster for a Mitty team that arrived in Sacramento ranked No. 1 in the country, and aiming to capture the program’s first state Open Division title after three previous title game losses in the best-of-the-best classification that the CIF added in 2013.
Mitty (30-1) trailed by 16 points at halftime and was fortunate to be that close.
It only got worse in the third quarter as Etiwanda stretched the margin to 48-24.
Mitty picked up the pace with its press and went on a 12-0 run to pull to within 50-39 with about five minutes left.
But Etiwanda regained command and cruised to the finish, sending Mitty to its third consecutive loss in the Open state final..Mitty had beaten everyone in its path this season, including the nation’s then-No. 1-ranked team, Long Island Lutheran, in December at an elite tournament in Arizona.
Etiwanda lost to Long Island Lutheran 82-86 in mid-January.
But the SoCal school had not lost since then, beating 2019 and 2022 state Open champ Sierra Canyon in the Southern Section and SoCal Open Division championship games to reach Sacramento.
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Mitty, meanwhile, dealt with an injury to its McDonald’s All-American, Morgan Cheli, throughout February. The five-star college prospect returned last weekend and helped the Monarchs beat Folsom and Clovis West to win the NorCal title.
But on Saturday, the UConn-bound star didn’t score her first basket until the final two seconds of the third quarter on a breakaway.
The basket cut Etiwanda’s advantage to 50-29.