The Hilltop High School girls basketball and girls soccer teams received No. 1 seeds in their respective sports for this year’s San Diego Section playoffs. Neither team will get a chance to play for a CIF championship after suffering disappointing quarterfinal losses to lower-seeded opponents.
Metro-South Bay League champion Hilltop defeated 16th-seeded Santana, 2-1, in the opening round of the Division III soccer playoffs on Feb. 18 to draw sixth-seeded Escondido Charter in the quarterfinals on Feb. 20. The teams played to a 1-1 draw with the Lady White Tigers (9-10-1) advancing to Wednesday’s semifinals with a 3-0 tiebreaker win.
The Lady Lancers finished an otherwise exemplary season 14-5-2.
The kicks-from-the-mark tiebreaker remains a great equalizer in playoff soccer.
Hilltop raced past 16th-seeded Del Lago Academy, 53-32 in the opening round of the Division IV girls hoops playoffs on Feb. 17. Senior Kayli Salgado poured in 22 points while freshman Dianna Herrera dropped in 12 points and tacked on eight rebounds.
The Lady Lancers (19-7) encountered a roadblock against ninth-seeded Santana, 48-28, in the next round, however, on Feb. 19.
There were no special circumstances. Hilltop was out-played from the opening tip-off by a team laden with height. Salgado had 15 points while senior Serina Williams grabbed 10 rebounds.
Santana’s top scorers included junior Ashlyn Darrow with 16 points, sophomore Sam Mora with 15 points and junior Harper Diaz with 13 points.
Diaz is 6-1 while Darrow is 6-0
Mora deflated any attempted Hilltop comeback from a 22-14 halftime deficit with five second-half three-pointers.
“We prided ourselves on our speed,” Hilltop coach B.J. Hunt said. “We had good players and scored a lof of points during the season. We were a runaway train that ran into a mountain (against Santana),”
The Lady Sultans benefited greatly from the recent return of Diaz, a cross country and track champion, to the lineup.
“They were more like a No. 2 or No. 3 seed that got put at No. 9,” Hunt said.
“It means so much to beat the No. 1 seed,” Darrow said. “We came in after a tough season.”
There’s clearly no substitute for height as Santana players routinely picked off high passes and easily pounced on rebounds to frustrate the host’s best-laid plans.l.
The Lady Sultans (18-12) proved their upset win over Hilltop was no fluke by topping third-seeded Pt. Loma, by nine points, 52-43, in Tuesday’s semifinals to advance to Thursday’s division championship game against No 2 Escondido Adventist Academy (22-6) at Otay Ranch High School.
Season leaders for Hilltop included Salgado (18.6 points per game), Herrera (11.4 ppg), senior Aliseah Zapata (7.8 ppg) and Williams (8.2 rebounds per game).
On the pitch, Hilltop soccer leaders included freshman Aiyana Espinoza and junior Citlaly Gutierrez each with 12 goals, senior Kiana Navarrete with nine goals and senior Hannah Gomez with eight goals.
Girls Basketball, Division IV quarterfinal playoffs
Photos by Phillip Brents
