Some of the top girls' basketball teams in Northern California will gather in Kentfield this week, as Marin Catholic welcomes strong competition to the annual LadyCat Classic, which begins Thursday and concludes Saturday.
"My assistant coach, Dan Lucia, worked very hard to put the team together," said MC coach Ashley Saia." He went to great lengths to find all the best teams to organize a very competitive weekend. You take pride in that and want MC to be represented. You want to perform well, but this is a good test for us going forward.
The game is one of three in the county this weekend, with the College of Marin women's team hosting a tournament that includes TAMU and San Rafael; in addition, the Novato men's team will host an eight-team tournament that includes San Rafael. If the College of Marin women and the TAM women both win or both lose on Thursday, they will play each other on Friday.
The Massachusetts girls' basketball team had a stellar season, sweeping the Massachusetts Class A League (MCAL), winning the division title and advancing to the Northern California Class B playoffs as the top seed.
Three other teams in the LadyCat Classic field made the NorCal D-I playoffs, St. Mary's (Stockton), Aqualanis and San Ramon Valley. St. Ignatius also made the D-II playoffs. Redwood, Encinal and Mission Prep also made the playoffs.
MC finished fourth in last season's tournament and defeated Mission Prep in the first round.These two teams will face off again on Thursday night at 8 p.m. The Wildcats will play in the semifinals of the tournament. The Wildcats lost to Central in the semifinals and then fell to Akalanis in overtime in the third-place game.
The Redwoods reached the MCAL playoffs last season and are expected to build on that success this year with a 3:30 p.m. opener against San Ramon Valley on Thursday.
"We're trying to make it the most competitive tournament we can," Saya said of the tournament, which dates back to 1981, "by getting some of the best teams in Northern California in the gym together and playing really good basketball." This will prepare us for the rest of the tournament.
MC returns four of its five starters from last season, but two-time MCAL Player of the Year Gracyn Lovette has graduated.
Junior Jocelyn Gigounas takes Lovette's place in the starting lineup this season, joining Izzy McFadden, Cecily Hadd, Alyssa Spagnuolo, and soon-to-be Wesleyan commit Madie Dayton. Madie Dayton) round out a guard-heavy lineup of stunners. Another junior, Sienna Frazier, will play a big role off the bench.
Perhaps the biggest challenge facing the Wildcats this year is replacing Lovett's scoring, rebounding, defense and competitiveness in every game.
McFadden scored 26 points in MC's cornerstone game, a 50-41 victory over defending D-I state champion Oakland Tech.
