It’s been a great year for girls’ basketball in Orinda. Not only did Miramonte win the North Coast Section Division 3 title, but Santa Maria CYO team capped off a three-year, 37-1 run with its third straight Diablo Valley Crown.
And on top of that, several of those players helped Orinda Intermediate School finish its season with a perfect 10-0 record.
What both groups had in common was the one-two punch of point guard Aimee Fagundes and forward Annie Dauost, who proved too much for opponents to handle. And that one loss? Neither Fagundes nor Daoust was able to play, so with a full roster, the OIS and Santa Maria record was 47-0.
Tony Cantando was the head coach for Santa Maria and his daughter Harper was one of the other three starters, along with Jazzy Atkinson and India Cohen.
“There was great chemistry,” said assistant coach Katie Fagundes, and like all coaches, she was especially proud of Santa Maria’s ability to stop the other team from scoring. “We had stifling defense,” she said.
It didn’t hurt that Aimee Fagundes handled the ball and ran the offense. “I like how I can set up other people,” said Aimee, and the person she most often set up was 5-10 Annie Daoust. Like most tall girls, Daoust was relegated to the paint early on, but recently has started to play outside and shoot more threes.
She’s also noticed that she’s not always the tallest one any more.
“The other girls are catching up,” she said.
Another top scorer was Atkinson, who worked hard on her shot and blossomed beyond the arc this year. Cohen helped Aimee Fagundes with backcourt duties and Harper Cantando supplied defense and rebounding.
Michaela Thomas, a Miramonte alum who played with Sabrina Ionescu, coached the OIS team, which defeated Martinez Junior High to win its league title.
Santa Maria faced its main rival, Holy Rosary of Antioch, in the eighth grade Diablo Valley championship game, extending a four-point halftime lead into a 53-44 win.
