Both Maranatha Christian Academy and the Breck School, both Mustangs, battled in the Section 5AA girls basketball tournament quarterfinals last week.
Seventh seed Maranatha sent Breck packing with a 70-41 Maranatha win on Feb. 29, which earned the hosts a spot in the Section 5AA quarterfinals.
Tenth seed Breck arrived at the second round of the Section 5AA tournament by beating 15th seed Cristo Rey 45-34 days earlier. The Mustangs were led by a 22-point game from Catherine Walker and 14 points from Kylie Lee.
The Maranatha girls were in control in the first half, collecting points from the likes of Janiya Wright, Olivia Lanari, Zaniah Hunter, and Heather Sheehy to lead 43-14 at halftime. A series of three-pointers from Sheehy and dominating physical play by Wright gave the hosts a clear road forward.
Breck did not mount a table-turning comeback in the second half, but they did show a strong mental response to a difficult first half. The visitors looked far more confident and fluid on the court, with Kylie Lee adding her talents to the already-positive scoring form of Catherine Walker to help Breck close the gap somewhat.
The game concluded 70-41 to Maranatha, with both sides having positives to take home. The final minutes of the game included big individual moments for both teams. The first came when Maranatha seventh grader guard Adriana Mascarenas scored two points for the hosts, her second successful field goal of the season.
Soon after, the substitutions of Lily Augdahl and Corinne Moran, Breck’s two senior players, out of the game resulted in a rowing moment of applause from players and fans alike in appreciation.
Walker ended the night with 24 points for Breck, ahead of Maranatha’s best performer, Wright, who had 19. Sheehy ended the day with 17 points, while Lee earned 13.
The game marked the end of the season for Breck, who entered the academic year with a roster full of young players looking for key varsity development opportunities. Breck had two seniors, Lily Augdahl and Corinne Moran, rostered this season in addition to four juniors. The team had three sophomores this year and five freshmen. Breck also rostered eight eighth graders.
Junior Catherine Walker, who broke the 1,000 career points line this season, scored 537 for Breck this regular season. Freshman Kylie Lee earned 306, while freshman Alena Boeckermann earned 98.
The game between the two squads of Mustangs came days after Breck boys basketball, led by a 42-point performance from Daniel Freitag, won its own matchup over Maranatha, winning 102-85.
Maranatha vs. Jordan
The Mustangs lost their section quarterfinal two days later, traveling to Jordan High School in a 70-43 loss to the second seed in Section 5AA. Wright led Maranatha with 14 points. Lanari was close behind with 13 points against Jordan.
Maranatha featured two seniors this season, Autumn Lanari and Janiya Wright, and zero juniors. The Mustangs had five sophomores this season, three freshmen, one eighth grader and two seventh graders.
Sophomore Heather Sheehy led Maranatha’s regular season scoring with 357 points, while Wright had 348. Sophomore Olivia Lanari scored 256 points and Autumn Lanari scored 159 in the regular season.
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