Archbishop Mitty made its case for being the best girls basketball team in California – and the United States – over the weekend.
For the second year in a row, the Monarchs won the Nike Tournament of Champions, which featured many of the top programs in the country.
Unlike last season’s nationally televised 73-72 barnburner of a win over Long Island Lutheran, Mitty trounced previously undefeated Ontario Christian 59-34 in Saturday’s final.
“We’ve shown we’re arguably one of the best programs in the country,” Mitty coach Sue Phillips told the Bay Area News Group on Monday. “That’s not to say that we’re going to finish there — that’s our goal — because we still have a lot of progressing to do.”
After losing last year’s Open Division state championship game to Etiwanda and graduating key seniors such as UConn guard Morgan Cheli, there was some question whether the reloaded Monarchs (8-0) would be able to compete against the nation’s other top teams.
If the tournament’s result is any indication, the answer is a resounding yes.
The San Jose private school defeated powerhouses George Rogers Clark-Kentucky, Clackamas-Oregon and Mater Dei-Santa Ana to reach the final.
Ontario Christian (14-1), which entered the game undefeated and as America’s top-ranked team according to MaxPreps, had no answer for superstar junior forward McKenna Woliczko.
She repeated as the TOC’s most valuable player after she put up 25 points, 10 rebounds and four assists while battling with 6-foot-7 freshman phenom Sydney Douglas.
Woliczko showed an ever-improving scoring arsenal on the perimeter.
“What makes McKenna so difficult to defend is that she can score in even more ways (than last year),” Phillips said of the reigning Bay Area News Group player of the year. “She can grab the rebound and go coast-to-coast, hit the trail 3, score in the high post and from the wing.”
Phillips has integrated high-profile East Bay transfers Ze’Ni Patterson (Heritage) and Devin Cosgriff (Bishop O’Dowd) into the lineup, but junior Emma Cook was Mitty’s second-leading scorer on Saturday.
Cook, who has patiently waited for a bigger role, scored 14. Sophomore point guard Tee McCarthy was the third-leading scorer with nine points.
Meanwhile, Cosgriff and Patterson were both tasked with slowing down Ontario’s prolific bucket-getters in Kaleena Smith and Tatianna Griffin.
“Without a question, we’re very athletic,” Phillips said. “We’re a better team defensively than last year. Offensively we still need to iron some things out, but we’ve had the benefit of having our defense create some of our offense.”
The Monarchs will see Ontario Christian at least once more this season, meeting again in the premier game at Sabrina Ionescu’s SI 20 showcase at Carondelet on Jan. 4.
But there’s also a realistic chance that the two powerhouses will face off for a third time in March with Mitty and Ontario Christian representing NorCal and SoCal with a state Open Division championship on the line.
However, Phillips is making sure her team doesn’t look too far ahead. She said that there’s a number of talented programs in both regions capable of derailing that hypothetical matchup.
“You can’t put too much into one game in this sport,” Phillips said. “We can celebrate for 24 hours, and then it’s time to move on.”
