By greg clementi
Sports Editor
It was a mixed bag for varsity basketball teams last week in the North Coast Section Division-5 playoffs, with one team advancing while the other went home.
The second-seeded Lady Eagles (24-6) turned in a great week of hoops, knocking off Bentley, 55-28 and College Prep, 46-42 to advance to the North Coast Section Division-5 semifinals.
Already assured of a top-four NCS finish, Cloverdale qualified for an historic trip to the CIF Nor Cal State Tournament which starts next week. It’s the first Nor Cal appearance for the Lady Eagles since 2002.
At press time the girls were preparing for an NCS semifinal home clash with number three seeded Urban on Wednesday, Mar. 2. A win will put the Eagles into the championship game this Saturday, Mar. 5 (time and location TBD).
Meanwhile the fifth seeded varsity boys (26-5) wrapped up a championship season with one win in two outings, opening the NCS tournament with a 44-42 win over Redwood Christian, before falling to number four Stuart Hall, 66-52.
Lady Eagles soar
in playoffs
It was all Cloverdale in the NCS home playoff opener against 15th seeded Bentley on Feb. 24, jumping all over the visitors to lead 29-18 at the half. The Lady Eagles held Bentley to just 10 points after intermission in powering to a 55-28 win.
Top scorers included Angel Bernardi (20 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 assists), Teanne Edens (13 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal), Ale Perez (5 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal), Karsyn Stewart (4 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals), Camryn Figueroa (4 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist), Jaedyn Jenkins (2 points, 1 assist, 3 steals), Bailey Stewart (2 assists, 1 steal), Kayli Persons (2 points, 1 rebound), Shaye Stewart (2 points, 1 rebound) and Ruby Stone (2 points).
The girls were in a dogfight with visiting number 10 College Prep in Saturday’s quarterfinals, emerging from a tight first half with a 25-19 lead. The visitors refused to go quietly in the last two quarters, as the teams battled to the wire before Karsyn Stewart put the game on ice at the foul line to seal a 46-42 win.
“We never trailed and were able to run our offense in the fourth quarter,” CHS coach Rick Berry said. “The girls played hard and made them earn everything.”
Bernardi logged another great outing (23 points, 7 boards, 1 assist, 6 steals), while other big contributors were Karsyn Stewart (12 pts, 7 rebounds, 1 assist), Edens (5 points,7 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals), Bailey Stewart (4 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal), Perez (2 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal) and Jenkins (1 assist, 2 steals).
Boys wrap up season
The fifth seeded Eagles opened the NCS tourney on Feb. 24 in the first game of a home playoff double-header against 12th seeded Redwood Christian, surviving a less than stellar night to pull out a victory.
Cloverdale clung to a 22-14 halftime lead but weathered a 24-8 onslaught by the visitors to trail 38-30 at the end of three. The Eagles regrouped, holding Redwood Christian to just four points in the final period, pulled it out on a clutch three-point bomb from Gage Hoover en route to a 44-42 win.
Jayson McMillan and Adrian Bernardi paced the attack with 17 and 11 points respectively.
“This was one of the worst games this group has ever played,” coach Steve Bernardi said. “But we staged a great comeback in the fourth quarter to get the win.”
Cloverdale traveled to face number four Stuart Hall on Feb. 27 at San Francisco’s Kezar Pavilion, fighting an uphill battle to trail 32-23 at the break. Trailing by nine after three quarters, Cloverdale would get no closer than six points in the final period to eventually fall 66-52.
McMillan was sensational with a game-high 25 points, while Jordan Persons (9 points) and Luke Pope (8 points) also had solid outings for the Eagles.
“Stuart Hall just had too many weapons for us to defend,” Bernardi noted. “This group of seniors won close to 50 games in their two years at Cloverdale High, providing a lot of excitement for the fans and myself.”
