DHS girls water polo’s defense silences Wildcats

Addie Sinclair was on target when placing the ball into the back of the cage. The Davis High girls water polo player, a junior who is a three-year starter, and other teammates were focused on ball movement around the perimeters in Wednesday’s CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I semifinal playoff at the Davis Senior High School Aquatics Center against Sierra Foothill League foe Whitney. The result was top-seed DHS posting a 16-6 victory over the Wildcats. “Today, there was much more on the line,” said DHS head coach Jamey Wright, “but, having said that, they did pretty much what they (Whitney) did in the first two games.” The win over No. 4 Whitney sends DHS (22-9) to the D-I title game against another SFL foe in No. 2 Granite Bay, which defeated No. 3 Oak Ridge by a 15-9 score in the other semifinal game that was also played on Wednesday. The section’s D-I title game will be the third time this season the Blue Devils and Grizzlies have faced each other. DHS silenced the Grizzlies by an 8-1 score in a league game at Granite Bay on Oct. 8 and 15-8 at the aquatics center on Sept. 15. Entering Saturday’s title game, DHS has outscored its first three playoff opponents by a combined 62-7 margin. “We’ve done a great job offensively as well as defensively,” Wright said. The D-I title game will take place at the Roseville Aquatics Center on Saturday at 4 p.m. The winner of the blue banner advances to the California Interscholastic Federation Regional Water Polo Championships. According to the CIF State’s website – www.cifsjs.org – the brackets are expected to be released on Sunday. Sinclair, a two-sport athlete who was on the DHS softball team as a sophomore last spring, and the Blue Devils wasted no time against the Wildcats from Rocklin in their semifinal game. She and three other teammates in Jessie Walker, Hilde McConnell and Adeline Lee in scoring a goal each in the first period, which led to a 4-0 lead. “Going into that game, we, as a team, really wanted to focus on running our plays and setting up our offense,” Sinclair said. “The big part of the game was making sure everyone knew what plays we’re running.” Whitney was able to slow down the Blue Devils’ attack at the cage in the second period, holding them to only two goals with one from Sinclair and Walker. But DHS’ defense of getting into the face of Wildcat players was effective, holding the Wildcats to only one goal. That led to a 6-1 halftime score. The final 14 minutes of the semifinal game was all Blue Devils. Davis erupted for six goals in the third period – two from Sinclair – into any part of the cage. The Blue Devils held Whitney to only two goals for a 12-3 score entering the final period. “They’ve got some fast players,” said Wright of the Wildcats. The Blue Devils barely outscored the Wildcats 4-3 in the final 7 minutes on the contest, but the outcome was already decided. Sinclair finished with five goals in the game. Walker, also a junior, had four goals. “Getting good games from them was always a big part,” Wright said. “If we win, it’s usually because one or both of them had good games.” Ireland Greenway, plus McConnell and Lee, had a goal each. Now DHS shifts its attention toward facing Granite Bay for a third time this season. This is the third consecutive year the two teams have met in the D-I title game. Sinclair has been a part of the last two games. “The (title) game is obviously huge,” Sinclair said. “Especially with Granite Bay being our biggest (rival) out of all the teams (in the SFL).”