Last season, the Bishop Montgomery girls basketball team was selected for the Open Division in the CIF-Southern Section playoffs and went 0-3 in the pool-play format.
The Knights (18-3, 8-0) wrapped up an undefeated Del Rey League title Tuesday with a 65-38 win over LaSalle. They’ve been a fixture on the watch list for this year’s Open Division playoffs and are expected to get another shot at the top division when the playoffs pairings are released Sunday.
“Returning my core group, they understand and bought into the culture that I wanted to establish,” Bishop Montgomery coach Rheina Ale said. “I do think that we’ve bought in a lot quicker than I would have thought. Can’t really change the culture in one season, but we did that. Everybody bought into my system and what I wanted to establish.
“We made the Open Division last year, but to be an established Open Division team this year too, it’s exciting and you have to give the girls credit, they’ve worked really, really hard. I have a great group of girls that take accountability, they take ownership when I talk to them about things we have to fix, a true coachable group that any coach wants.”
A key player for the Knights has been sophomore guard Sophia Dignadice, who scored 20 points in a 76-55 win over St. Anthony on Jan. 23.
“She’s great off the screen, she’s a great passer, she can knock shots, but I think the difference from last year to this year is she is playing with more confidence,” Ale said of Dignadice. “She learned a lot her freshman year starting almost every single game. I think experience is a great teacher and one thing we worked on with her is building that confidence to be super aggressive offensively and I honestly think her confidence has improved so much.”
Dignadice agrees with Ale regarding her confidence level.
“Confidence for sure,” Dignadice said. “The confidence to shoot, to drive, being out there knowing my skill and knowing what I can do, that’s just made me improve so much from last year.
“The coaches really motivated me, and I practiced during the summer time. I knew I put that grind in and I knew it was time to show it on the court.”
Pioneer League boys basketball race goes the distance
Wiseburn Da Vinci’s boys basketball team has a chance Thursday to win the outright title in the Pioneer League.
The Wolves (20-7, 9-2) have to defeat El Segundo on the road.
If El Segundo (18-9, 8-3) wins and North (19-8, 8-3) beats West, that would leave the title split among El Segundo, Wiseburn and North.
“Every night has been tough,” Wiseburn coach Jeff Amaral said.
Wiseburn is seventh in this week’s CIF-SS Division 3AA poll, North is sixth in Division 3A and El Segundo is first in Division 5AA.
Leuzinger boys and girls storm through Ocean League
Led by Josh Garland’s 27 points, the Leuzinger boys basketball team defeated Beverly Hills 76-56 Tuesday to clinch the Ocean League title.
Tylan Kinsey scored 13 points and Darrian Henry and Malachi Knight had 11 apiece for the Olympians (19-7, 9-0).
Leuzinger concludes the regular season Thursday at Hawthorne.
The Leuzinger girls basketball team improved to 23-4 overall and 9-0 in the Ocean League with a recent win, 70-12, over Beverly Hills.
Mira Costa and Redondo girls set for second meeting
The Bay League girls basketball title will be on the line when Mira Costa (23-4, 8-1) hosts Redondo (21-5, 9-0) Thursday at 6 p.m.
Redondo won the teams’ first meeting 56-40 on Jan. 16.
Playoff pairings
The L.A. City Section will announce its boys and girls basketball playoff pairings Saturday evening. The Southern Section will release its pairings Sunday: boys at noon, girls at 12:30 p.m.