FULLERTON >> With her teammate Kaylee Byon double-teamed most of the game, Rosary’s Allison Clarke stepped up and scored 21 points to lead the Royals’ girls basketball team to a 56-42 victory over Viewpoint on Thursday in the second round of the CIF Southern California Division I regional playoffs at Rosary Academy.

Rosary (17-9) will host Windward on Saturday in the regional semifinals.

“Their defense was frustrating because they were double-teaming me,” Byon said. “But I trusted my teammates and they were able to come out tonight. Allison had 21 points, so I had to trust them.

“On our defense, we have to fix a lot of things, but this was our first game back in almost two weeks. We stayed strong and confident and did what Coach (Richard) Yoon told us.”

Byon finished with eight points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.

Rosary went on the defensive attack in the first quarter, using a full-court press to take a 19-10 lead at the end of the quarter. Ava Dominguez scored 10 of those early points for Rosary.

Postgame interview with Rosary coach Richard Yoon as the Royals head to the semifinals of the CIF SoCal Regionals. @ocvarsity @RosaryRoyals @rosarysports @ocvarsityguy @MattyK31 pic.twitter.com/7lxsBaxGgt

— Manny Alvarez (@MAlvarez02) March 4, 2022

With Viewpoint star guard Karlee White on the bench because of an injury, the Patriots (20-8) relied heavily on Madison Nadolenco.

She led Viewpoint with 10 points and seven rebounds as it stormed back to cut the Royals’ lead to three at halftime thanks to a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Madilyn Palosi (6 points, 6 rebounds).

“Coach told us to stay confident,” Clarke said. “We have to keep going and play our defense and fix the things we need to do. We did that and we came out with the win. They kept going at us, but we just pull it out.”

Postgame interview with Allison Clarke of Rosary. 21 points for Clarke as the Royals head to the semifinals of the CIF SoCal Regionals. @ocvarsity @RosaryRoyals @rosarysports @ocvarsityguy @MattyK31 pic.twitter.com/G2Ybhm5edu

— Manny Alvarez (@MAlvarez02) March 4, 2022

The Royals took control in the second half, building their lead up to 21 points.

Mary Larson had eight points for the Royals, and freshman Mya Barnes added seven points and six rebounds.

Postgame interview with Kaylee Byon of Rosary. 8 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists as the Royals head to the semifinals of the CIF SoCal Regionals. @ocvarsity @RosaryRoyals @rosarysports @ocvarsityguy @MattyK31 pic.twitter.com/jab4tz3HdR

— Manny Alvarez (@MAlvarez02) March 4, 2022

“Everyone knew since last year that Kaylee was the player to double-team,” Yoon said. “Going into the season we said that we have to make sure when she gets doubled that everyone else has an opportunity to become scorers. We worked on it all the time. Allison is going to be an All-County superstar at some point. She is showing those signs right now.”

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Kayla Kashmeshian had nine points and six assists for Viewpoint, while Faith Han had eight points.

Viewpoint had only six players in uniform for the game.