The CIF North Coast Section Division IV champion Justin-Siena Braves got a rousing welcome upon their return to Clark Gym Tuesday night, with yet another capacity crowd cheering them on in pregame warmups and getting behind their quest to keep the girls basketball season going.

The top-seeded Braves responded to the high level energy and support by taking another step on the road to Arco Arena, crushing No. 8 Santa Cruz, 80-55, in a CIF Northern California Regional as Vicky Deely dominated with 25 points, five rebounds, four assists, five steals and three blocks.

Justin-Siena (28-3 overall) remained undefeated at home, jumping out in front early 16-0 and exploding to start the second half with a 30-point third quarter.

“We got a lot of energy to start the game,” said Britney Hyatt, a guard who had 10 points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals. “We started really well. We just played as a team. It was really fun, especially with this huge home crowd.”

Coach Mike Boles said: “Playing here in front of our crowd is better than playing anywhere else. They’re a great lift for us.”

Justin-Siena’s win advances it to Thursday’s NorCal Regional semifinal at home against No. 5 Modesto Christian (28-4 Sac-Joaquin Section), which beat No. 4 Anderson (23-5 Northern Section), 75-36. Modesto Christian was the Sac-Joaquin runner-up. It’s a 7 p.m. tip.

“The fans really provide energy and enthusiasm as we step out on the floor,” said Deely. “I think that’s something we feed off as we start playing.”

The Regionals are part of the CIF State Basketball Championships presented by Farmers. The road to the state finals at Arco Arena starts this week.

“We really appreciate how enthusiastic everyone is and how appreciative they are of how we are playing,” said Deely, who came into the game averaging 22.2 points and 9.0 rebounds per game. “We’re just taking it one game at a time to get to what we want to accomplish, and that’s to get to the NorCal Championships and then to eventually go to state.

“Right now if we look beyond Thursday night we can encounter problems. Right now if we just focus on Thursday we should be successful, and that’s all I’m worried about right now.”

The Braves dominated in the paint, winning the battle of the boards at both ends of the floor. They won with a turnover-forcing defense that caused Santa Cruz (17-14 overall), a Santa Cruz Coast League team and the runner-up in the Central Coast Section playoffs, into not getting very good looks at the basket. The Braves also had very good ball movement and scored points in transition. They got 12 steals and blocked nine shots. They broke Santa Cruz’s press.

There was no letdown for Justin-Siena, which won its first North Coast Section championship since joining the NCS in 2000. The Braves beat St. Patrick/St. Vincent 60-52 on Saturday at Oracle Arena in Oakland. It was Justin-Siena’s first section crown since 1997, when as a CIF Sac-Joaquin Section school it beat Colfax. They also won a Sac-Joaquin title in 1985.

Justin-Siena came into the game ranked No. 3 in the latest CalHiSports.com state Division IV poll and 14th in the Northern California Overall Top 15. The Braves are also No. 1 in the Redwood Empire final rankings and are No. 7 in the Cal-Hi Sports Bay Area Top 20, which was announced Tuesday.

Justin-Siena was in front 21-11 in the first quarter, as Deely’s seven points and 3-of-4 free-throw shooting led the way. Jessica Futo and Courtney Pardini each had five, with Pardini hitting a 3-pointer.

The Braves were ahead 37-19 at halftime, with Deely’s 13 points and Futo’s eight pacing the offense.

It was a season-high for points in a game for Justin-Siena.

“It’s funny — you score 80 and win by 25,” Boles said. “We kind of played in spurts. I’m not sure why. I thought the first part of the game we came out with a lot of energy and I thought at the start of the third quarter we duplicated that energy. We’re going to need to continue to do that.”

Futo had another big game, with 19 points, nine rebounds, six assists and three seals. Pardini was solid as well, scoring 10 points and getting four assists and two blocks. Kyleigh McAhren had seven points, three rebounds and three blocks. Taylor Putnam had four points and two rebounds. Rachelle Whitehead had three rebounds.

“We definitely did well on defense but I think if we want to be successful on Thursday we need to pick our defense up,” said Deely. “On the offensive end we executed but I think our execution can be a little more precise and a little more consistent.”

The win was Justin-Siena’s fourth in a row since a loss to Branson-Ross in the championship game of the Marin County Athletic League Tournament. The two schools shared the MCAL regular season title. The Braves are now 12-0 at home.

The defense was a bright spot for Boles, as the Braves’ pressure and intensity hurt Santa Cruz.

“There are some areas that we need to shore up a little bit,” he said. “That’s what we’ve got (Wednesday) to work on. It’s not anything drastic, just some minor tweaks of what we do defensively to make us a little tighter on the defensive end. Championships are won on defense. But for the most part, defensively I thought we did a very good job tonight.”

The third-quarter scoring spree was one for the highlight film. The Braves went on a 19-2 run, going on to build a 36-point lead.

“We were just really moving our feet and having a lot of energy on defense and working hard to get loose balls,” said Hyatt. “We were getting steals and easy layups.”

Boles went to his bench early, getting nine players into the game in the first half.

Santa Cruz ended the year with back to back losses. Santa Cruz was coming off a 50-34 loss to Valley Christian in the CCS finals. Santa Cruz had runs of 7-0 and 8-0 in the fourth quarter.

Malia Santos had 12 points, Cassi Tinetti had nine, Kaiti Kluzniak and Maggie Mayall eight each, Sarah Takahashi six, and Morgan Rollo and Kaja Vaughan each had four for Santa Cruz.

The NorCal championship game is Saturday at 5 p.m. at Folsom High.