Sierra Canyon girls basketball blows out Notre Dame to keep streak going
CHATSWORTH — In its first home game since the school retired the jersey of USC guard Juju Watkins, Sierra Canyon’s girls basketball team routed Notre Dame 82-45 in a Mission League game Monday for its 14th straight win.
Sierra Canyon is now 33-0 in Mission League play since joining the league in 2022.
South Carolina commit Jerzy Robinson had 18 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals in three quarters of action for Sierra Canyon (17-1 overall, 3-0 league), which is ranked No. 1 in the area by the Daily News.
Trailblazers sophomore guard Cheri Hatter had 15 points, six rebounds and six assists.
“I think we gotta come out with more intensity next game, but we still got it done tonight,” Robinson said. “I thought the defense was good all game, but overall we can be better.”
Sierra Canyon was able to jump out to a 24-8 lead after one quarter. Hatter led the way with seven points in the quarter.
Robinson had 10 points at the half as Sierra Canyon led 44-21.
“I thought we performed well,” Hatter said. “We gotta make sure to show up to our level and not the level of the competition.”
The third quarter was Sierra Canyon’s best quarter of the game, as it outscored Notre Dame 28-8. Robinson scored eight points in the third to help Sierra Canyon jump out to a 72-29 lead.
Notre Dame (12-8, 1-2), which is No. 8 in the Daily News’ rankings, outscored Sierra Canyon 16-10 in the fourth quarter, which was played with a running clock.
“Jerzy is one of the best players in the country, so 18 (points) is easy for her,” Sierra Canyon coach Alicia Komaki said. “The defense was not as good in the first half, but in the second half I think the message was clear that we needed to play better half-court defense and they did that.”
Power forward Payton Montgomery, a Pacific commit, and guard Jordyn Malek both had strong performances for Sierra Canyon off the bench. Montgomery had 16 points and four rebounds, while Malek had 15 points and made four 3-point shots.
UC Irvine commit Delaney White had seven points and six assists for Sierra Canyon.
Oregon commit Emilia Krstevski had a strong defensive performance for Sierra Canyon. She had four blocks to go along with four points and five rebounds in three quarters of action.
Freshman forward Elsie Hodge had 16 points for a Notre Dame team that had only had seven available players for Monday’s game.
Forward MaZiya Randolph had 10 points and 10 rebounds for Notre Dame.
“Sierra Canyon’s a tough opponent, we competed and played hard and that’s all I could ask for,” Notre Dame coach Jena Laolagi said. “We call Elsie ‘Baby KD.’ She’s slowly developing and we think she’s gonna be a killer.”
Sierra Canyon will host Marlborough (11-8) on Wednesday. Notre Dame will look to bounce back when it hosts Chaminade (4-12) on Wednesday.