Prep girls’ basketball: Antelope earns statement win in blowout of Christian Brothers
For the first month of this basketball season, Mary Carter remained on the Antelope High School basketball bench.
She was idle not cause of her skill level, or injury or illness, but because the junior was a summer transfer from Rocklin High, and per CIF transfer policy, she had to sit out the season’s first 30 days.
With Carter in the lineup, the Titans became a different team. On Monday night, Carter scored a game-high 26 points to power fourth-seeded Antelope’s 56-36 win over No. 5 seed Christian Brothers in the second round of the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division ll playoffs.
“Mary continues to carry the load for us,” Antelope coach Sean Chambers said. “She missed the whole preseason for us and is now front and center on a very powerful team that has a huge tradition. That’s big shoes to fill and she’s doing it with flying colors.”
The coach added, “Mary is a tremendous ball-handler. She handles it like a point guard. What impresses me about her is she can go inside and out. She is very coachable. Her teammates have been receptive to her and they love her. She’s a great teammate and she plays with everybody and does whatever it takes. Mary is the best all-around kid out there.”
Carter isn’t the only one making contributions for the defending section champions. Antelope got 17 points off the bench from sophomore Samaya Dillard. Michelle Rice had 10 points, Julianna Chavez had nine and Ivy Samilton-Babcock added seven.
Dillard hit a clutch corner three in the second half that opened up the scoring run for the Titans.
“She’s a high-level player,” Chambers said. “Samaya has great ball-handling skills and she’s a tremendous rebounder. She’s back and she’s a matchup problem as well because she’s a competitor. No moment is too big for her. Her three in the corner helped us go on a run.”
This is the healthiest Antelope has been all season. During the regular season, Antelope dealt with Carter’s inaction, COVID-19 problems and injuries. The last two playoff games are the first time the team has been fully healthy and available.
“It’s really crucial (that we are healthy) because we are able to go eight players deep for the playoffs,” Chambers said. “Everyone missed a year of playoffs last year because of COVID. Everybody is pretty young when it comes to these playoff games… It’s incredible because we only have one senior on our team. Our core is back next year. Missing (the playoffs) last year is big for us, but it’s big for everybody.”
Antelope (21-5) will travel to Folsom to face Vista del Lago, the No. 1 seed, Wednesday.
“I think we match up extremely well with Vista,” Chambers said. “When the brackets came out, I’m sure everyone was trying to find out where (Antelope) was on the bracket. We were the game that people didn’t want to have to play.”
Christian Brothers’ season may not be over, yet. The defending D-III champion Falcons (23-6) could receive an at-large bid to play in the state tournament because of their record. Junior Jada Hunter had a team-high 11 points.
This story was originally published February 22, 2022 at 2:42 AM.