High School Girls Basketball: Top-seeded St. Paul advances to semifinals

By John Sherrard, Correspondent

SANTA FE SPRINGS – For the fourth consecutive year and 11TH time in school history the St. Paul High School girls basketball team is heading to the CIF-Southern Section semifinals.

Depth, hustle and youth led the way for the top-seeded Swordsmen, WHO defeated visiting Crossroads 50-34 in a Division 4A quarterfinal game Wednesday.

“We feel pretty good with what we have and can go deep into our lineup,” St. Paul coach Robert Miller said.

“We felt good about the girls we brought off the bench and we get to stay fresh and don’t lose a lot. Our best player (Priscilla Hidalgo) got in foul trouble and sat out the whole second quarter.

“It was nice because during that time period we actually extended the lead. That’s one of our strengths is depth.”

Leading the way for St. Paul (18-11) was senior forward Cassidy Carrillo with a game-high 15 points and seven rebounds. Hidalgo, a senior guard, contributed 10 points.

Crossroads (23-4) was led by sophomore guard Kayla Mitchell with a team-high 12 points.

St. Paul will make the long trip to Ventura and play No. 4 St. Bonaventure, a 62-53 winner over Whitney, on Saturday at 7 p.m.

The Swordsmen beat St. Bonaventure in last year’s quarterfinals.

“Last year they came down here and lost and a lot of people have been talking about this rematch since the brackets came out,” Miller said.

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