Mater Dei, Country Day headline Real Run

It’s being dubbed as one of the best one-day showcases of the year. The Real Run Winter Classic is set to tip off Saturday at Long Beach City College.

The full slate of games, which includes seven girls games in addition to the night cap between Inglewood and Serra boys, is a who’s who in California girls basketball. Seven of the Top 25 teams in the state will be in action. The girl’s slate of games will tip off at 8 a.m. with Cerritos Whitney taking on Lakewood St. Joseph leading up to the La Jolla Country Day-Mater Dei matchup at 6:30 p.m.

The Monarchs (13-0), under sixth year head coach Kevin Kiernan, are ranked No. 2 in the nation.

Despite losing the likes of Jordan Adams (USC), Alexas Williamson (Washington State), Nirra Fields (UCLA), and Kaija Powell (Cal State L.A.) to graduation and not returning any starters, the Monarchs seem poised to make it four consecutive state championships.

They’ve been led by the Samuelson sisters from Edison, senior Karlie and sophomore Katie Lou. The sisters were named co-MVP's of the Tournament of Champions in Arizona. Mater Dei defeated three teams ranked nationally in the Top 25, including then No.1 Phoenix St. Mary’s, to capture the title.

Considering the youth – the Monarchs started three sophomores, a freshman, and a senior in the Trinity League opener against JSerra on Thursday – Kiernan is relatively surprised by the success his team has had this season.

“We’re real young, got a whole new team,” Kiernan said. “We lost a lot from last year so I’m really surprised that we played as well as we’ve played. I knew we were going to be pretty good but I didn’t know if we’d be this good. So far, we’ve played really well, beyond my expectations.

“I knew Karlie and Katie Lou were really good and I knew they’d be able to score but you can’t win with two people, and the other young kids have just come in and played really well."

The Monarchs will be shorthanded against Country Day (6-5). Junior forward Peyton Langston has been out for nearly two weeks after suffering a concussion at the Tournament of Champions in Arizona.

Country Day, on the other hand, has played a challenging schedule as well but the wins have been much harder to come by.

The Torreys lost to famed New York Christ the King by five points and to Long Beach Poly by four points.

Point guard Kelsey Plum is a Top 30 player in the class of 2013 and headed to the University of Washington. Plum scored a school-record 51 points earlier this season in a 87-50 win over Arizona Dobson in the Torrey’s trip to the Tournament of Champions in Arizona.

“There’s great players and there’s great athletes and she’s both,” said Kiernan of Plum. “You rarely see them both put together in a package.”

The Monarchs won national titles in 2010 and 2011. Kiernan didn’t expect this group to be involved in many national conversations but believes this is a huge game for them to remain relevant in those talks.

“When we went to Arizona the kids, kind of, put themselves in the national picture which we really weren’t considering doing this year,” Kiernan said. “We just wanted to be solid and compete for a league title. Having done so well in Arizona they kind of put themselves in the national picture but you have to beat teams like La Jolla (Country Day) to stay there.”