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Lady Dragons get seeded 11th in NCS

Sonoma girls ousted from SCL Tourney by Analy, open D3 playoffs at 6-seed Novato tonight

After playing a tough preseason schedule and posting a Sonoma County League second-place finish, the Sonoma Valley High School varsity basketball girls, sporting a 15-12 record after falling in last Thursday’s SCL Tournament’s first-round, were seeded 11th for the North Coast Section Division-3 postseason playoffs.

The young Lady Dragons – with only three seniors on the roster, and one, standout point-guard Kendall Ashe, sidelined for the postseason with an injury – will hit the NCS road to open Division-3 play at sixth-seed Novato (18-10, MCAL) in a 7 p.m. first-round matchup tonight.

This evening’s NCS-opening winner will play at third-seed Campolindo (22-4, DFAL) in a 7 p.m. Division-3 quarterfinal showdown this Friday night, Feb. 22.

Rounding out the NCS Division-3 field are top-seed defending champion Bishop O’Dowd (23-3, WACC-F) and second-seed Miramonte (25-1, DFAL) with byes, and fourth-seed John F. Kennedy (24-2, TCAL-S) playing 13th-seed Analy (13-14, SCL); fifth-seed Petaluma (24-4, SCL) facing 12th-seed Hercules (16-11, TCAL-S), and seventh-seed Encinal (21-4, WACC-S) versus 10th-seed San Marin (17-10, MCAL)

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Despite having to compete in the postseason without the services of their floor-leading captain Ashe, the second-seed Sonoma hoops girls looked in sync at the start of last Thursday’s Sonoma County League Tournament first-round showdown with third-seed Analy in Pfeiffer Gym.

While the young Lady Dragons set the tone and took an early lead, they, unfortunately, couldn’t shake free from a battling Analy squad and held just a 12-9 first-quarter edge.

Then came Sonoma’s out-of-character sleepwalk through the second-period,which the visiting Tiger girls took full advantage by completely taking over the pace of the game, dominating the boards and winning almost every possession en route to a jaw-dropping 21-3 run that threatened to turn the contest into a rout.

But the Lady Dragons, who had only one rebound in the first six minutes of the second-quarter, managed to muster an 8-2 run of their own to end the first-half trailing hot-shooting Analy 36-26, and then began the third-period with an upbeat 5-2 spurt to cut the deficit to just seven points.

Unfortunately, Sonoma still couldn’t slow the aggressive Tigers, who again pounced out to a double-digit lead that ended with them escaping the Valley with a 54-48 victory.

Sonoma was paced by sophomore Delaney Swanson’s 17 points, six rebounds, four steals and one blocked shot; sophomore Mackenzie Albrecht’s double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds, to go with three assists, two steals and one block; junior teammate Giana Monterosso’s eight points, three assists and two steals; sophomore Alexa Hall’s six points; senior Ali Romano’s three points and two assists; and senior Ashley Vail’s three rebounds and two steals.

Rounding out Sonoma’s girls’ postseason roster – directed by head coach Sil Coccia and assistant coaches Steve Semenero and Dino Minatta – are juniors Madi Burningham, Amanda Lacy and Megan Neely; and, added from the junior varsity team, sophomores Hanna Lemaire, Sierra Lilly and Ciara Smith.