CIF State Basketball: St.Joe girls beats Mission Prep

Posted: Mar 9, 2010 10:52 PM by Andrew Masuda
Updated: Mar 9, 2010 10:52 PM

The Knights rolled past Mission Prep in to the second round of the CIF State Girl's Basketball Championships on Tuesday night.

St.Joseph was coming off its second straight CIF-Southern Section title. The Mission girls charged out to an early 9-4 lead after a three pointer by Jenna Dunbar. But the Knights went on a 26-0 run to take a commanding lead. Sophomore Aly Beebe was a dominant force in the middle for St.Joe and finished with 25 points, 14 came in the first half.

St.Joe's star point guard Kelsi English left the game with a knee injury. However, the severity is unknown at this point. The Knights advanced to Thursday's second round. The fifth seed in Division 4 will play at fourth seeded LACES. St.Joe beat LACES 68-30 in last year's first round of the Southern California Regional.

The Mission Prep boys lost in the first round of the Division 5 regionals 66-48. The Royals led by one at halftime but could not keep up with Besant Hills down in Ojai. Kevin Laird led the Royals with 19 points in the loss. Their season ends with a 13-17 record.

The North County Christian girl's basketball team also saw their season come to an end. The Crusaders lost at Atascadero High School to Central Valley Christian 69-38. The Crusaders' season ends with a 20-6 record. Cristy Scarson led NCC with 14 points in the loss. NCC enjoyed an historic season, capturing the program's first ever CIF-Southern Section title last week.