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Desert fade for Lady Dragons

Sonoma goes 1-2 in Arizona, opens SCL at El Mo Saturday

 

With a winning tourney start to last week’s annual holiday hoops trek into the Arizona desert, Sonoma Valley High School’s varsity basketball girls stumbled against two tough opponents in their final two games of the the challenging Cactus Jam tournament in Tempe and returned home with just the one victory.

In Thursday’s Cactus Jam opener, the Lady Dragons got off to a slow start before surging back from a 13-point halftime deficit to post a 59-56 triumph over the Yale Secondary School from British Columbia.

But on Friday, the Sonoma girl cagers again struggled at the start of their second-round winner’s bracket game against Woodinville, and the 14th-ranked team in the state of Washington made sure there would be no comeback this time with a smothering defense and prolific offense that delivered a one-sided 73-27 win.

Facing Estrella Foothills of Arizona in their final tourney game on Saturday, the young Lady Dragons continued their playing-from-behind scenario by falling into a 27-18 halftime hole, but, as they did in the opener, rallied back in the third quarter to cut the deficit to five points. Unfofortunately, they couldn’t complete the comeback and dropped a 51-38 decision.

“We limp back to Sonoma and need to regroup after a very competitive and challenging non-league schedule, and focus on our second and most important half of the season, with a SCL championship the only goal ahead of us,” said Sonoma head coach Sil Coccia, who’s assisted by coaches Steve Semenero and Dino Minatta.

Comprising the varsity Lady Dragons’ roster are seniors Kendall Ashe, Ali Romano and Ashley Vail; juniors Madi Burningham, Amanda Lacy, Giana Monterosso and Megan Neely; and sophomores Mackenzie Albrecht, Alexa Hall and Delaney Swanson.

The Sonoma girls were led past Yale Secondary School by Romano’s 17 points; Albrecht’s double-double of 15 points and 15 rebounds; and Hall’s 12 points.

Pacing the Lady Dragons in their defeat to Woodinville were Swanson’s 13 points and eight rebounds; Romano’s 11 points and four rebounds; Ashe’s two points and two steals; Albrecht’s one point and seven rebounds; and Monterosso’s four rebounds.

Sonoma was paced in its loss to Estrella Foothills by Hall’s 12 points; Swanson’s seven points and six rebounds; Ashe’s seven points and two assists; Albrecht’s six points, 10 rebounds and two steals; and Vail’s six points and seven rebounds.

The Lady Dragons open their Sonoma County League season in Forestville this Saturday night, Jan. 5, where they’ll face El Molino.