SANTA ROSA >> The Middletown Mustangs trailed 19-0 four minutes into thei r North Coast Section Division IV quarterfinal-round girls’ basketball game on Saturday night in Santa Rosa, and it was pretty clear by that point it was going to be a long night for coach Anthony Bazzano’s team.
The Mustangs went on to lose 63-22 to the No. 2-seeded Cardinals, ending their season at 23-7.
“We just got beat a better team, there’s not much else you can say about it,” Bazzano said of the loss that ends another strong season by his Mustangs and marked the close of the high school playing career of senior center Ashlyn Welton as well as five other Middletown seniors.
“They (Cardinals) had good ball movement and good shooters,” Bazzano said. “We’ve played teams that had good ball movement and teams that had good shooters, but never both and not like this. Offensively they were very good, about as good a shooting team I’ve ever coached against.”
Cardinal Newman (26-4), now headed to the semifinals to play No. 3 seed St. Mary’s on Wednesday in Santa Rosa, led 25-4 after one quarter.
“We were never able to get into any type of rhythm on offense in the half court,” Bazzano said. “We were never comfortable.”
Meghan Carlisle led the Mustangs, North Central League I co-champions this season, with eight points. Abby Aden added five points and Kaleigh Alves and Makenzi Smith each had four. Welton, who was promoted to the varsity ranks late in her freshman season, finished with two points and seven rebounds, giving her 1,314 points and 1,003 rebounds for her stellar career.
“That in and of itself tells a pretty good story,” Bazzano said when asked what Welton meant to the Middletown program. “She’s the career scoring leader at the school and she was constantly giving us double-doubles, which tells you she’s doing the job on both ends of the floor.”
Of the team’s six seniors, which inlcudes Bazzano’s daughter Miah, Middletown’s coach said they “left a legacy” of success. “They completely changed the path of Middletown basketball. They left us a foundation to build upon.”
Middletown won its second straight league championship this season and posted 20 or more wins for the second season in a row. No Middletown girls’ team has won more games in a single season.
