Mar 6, 2008

Berkeley too fast for Titans

Rosen scores 20, defense comes up big in playoffs

By Steve Herendeen / MediaNews

It was the first round of the most important tournament Berkeley High's girls basketball team has played this year, and the Yellowjackets didn't really bring their A-plus game.

Of course, when you have the kind of speed and athleticism Berkeley has, and a defense that's just downright unfair, you can make up for some sloppy play now and again.

The top-seeded Yellowjackets committed eight turnovers in the opening quarter against Skyline, but rode a 20-point performance by Camila Rosen, some dandy guard play by Jazmine Perkins and Sharonda Morgan, and that aforementioned defense to a dominant 68-33 victory Tuesday night over the Titans in the first round of the CIF NorCal Div. I playoffs.

"They're so quick and athletic,'' said Skyline coach Felix Douglas, whose team was just 4-for-20 from the floor in the first half, down by 33-11 at intermission and essentially out of it.

"We're just not an athletic team and Berkeley definitely is,'' he added. "Where we might get beat by a foot (to a ball or rebound) by some other team, Berkeley was beating us by two feet out there.''

The Yellowjackets, on the other hand, pretty much couldn't miss and buried Skyline (20-10) with fast breaks. In the first half, Berkeley was 16-for-30 from the floor, finishing 28-for-52 (53.8 percent) for the game.

"We wanted to come out and pick up where we left off against Deer Valley,'' said Rosen, referring to the 27-9 fourth-quarter run against Deer Valley that produced a 62-45 North Coast Section championship game win.

"We really didn't know much about them,'' Rosen said of the Titans, "but our coach (Cheryl Draper) told us 'if you lose, you're out.'"

Besides Rosen - who had 12 of her points in the first half - Berkeley got 13 points from Perkins and 11 from Morgan.

But it was the defense that really put this game away. Perkins and Morgan shadowed Skyline guards Cindy Chao and Jenny Tern most of the game and made it virtually impossible to get the ball to high-scoring forward Nnemaka Anyanwu.

Anyanwu, who scored 37 points in Monday night's 65-60 overtime play-in win over Lincoln of San Francisco, had a team-high 12 points in this one but had just three field goals.



A large part of that was the defense of Airika Warren. The 5-11 junior - who got help at times from Dezi Culberson - often draws the defensive assignment on an opponent's top scorer, so she stuck like glue to Anyanwu.

"We knew we had to slow her down,'' said Warren, who also scored eight points.

She did a pretty good job of that. Anyanwu, the Oakland Athletic League scoring champion, got just 14 shots off and made just three. With Skyline's other main scoring threat, Markiell Smith, in foul trouble all night, the Titans couldn't muster much of anything.



Eastside Prep 43, Head-Royce 38

Head-Royce (27-7) dropped a 55-24 decision to Eastside earlier in the season at the Bentley shootout, but the Jayhawks gave the No. 3 seed all it wanted in this NorCal Div. V first-round game.

Samantha Bunch scored a game-high 15 points for the Panthers (30-1), including a crucial - and much disputed - three-point play at the end of the third quarter that gave the hosts a 32-28 advantage.

The Jayhawks, who got 15 points from Michela Isono, got to within 41-38 with 13 seconds left, but Aufjereae Holland (10 points) sank two free throws to ice the game for the Panthers.

Eastside Prep will face No. 2 Liberty Christian (30-1) in Thursday's semifinals.

"I don't think anyone gave us a chance,'' said Head-Royce coach Mike Talps, who complained time had run out in the third quarter when Bunch made the big three-point play.

"We had them where we wanted them, we just fell two plays short,'' he added. "I'm proud of the kids ... they gave themselves a chance to win.''



St. Mary's 92, Hercules 66

The host Rams hit six of their 12 3-pointers during a 35-point second quarter to pull away from the Titans in a first-round Div. III game.

St. Mary's (31-0) had four players score six or more points during the period led by Afure Jemerigbe, who had eight points. Chelsea Gray led the Rams, who are ranked No. 8 in the country by USA Today, with 24 points and Jemerigbe added 19.

Chalese Davis had 14 points to lead Hercules, and teammate Brittany Boyd added 13. The Titans (24-7) committed 22 turnovers.