It took the Bonita High School girls basketball team longer than expected to put away visiting Cathedral Catholic on Tuesday night, but all that matters is that the Bearcats are moving on.
Bonita, the No. 4 seed in the Division 3 Southern California Regional, opened its first double-digit lead of the game midway through the third quarter, then spent the rest of the night holding off the pesky Dons for a 70-56 win in the opening round of the CIF State playoffs.

C.J. Cooper’s 3-pointer with 12 seconds left broke a 55-55 tie and sent La Verne Lutheran to a 60-58 win over host University City of San Diego in front of a standing- room-only crowd in Tuesday’s opening round of the CIF State Division 3 Southern California Regional playoffs.

BOYS BASKETBALL
Division III
La Verne Lutheran 60, University City/San Diego 58 — CJ Cooper hit a 3-pointer with 12 seconds left to break a 55-55 tie. Lutheran plays, who else, Orange Lutheran in Thursday’s second round.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Division III
Bonita 70, Cathedral Catholic 56 — Bonita coach Darren Baumunk played a lot of his roster early to keep the Bearcats fresh for what could be a long week. Nikki Wheatley had 24 for Bonita, which pulled away in the second half.
Mt. Miguel 48, Bishop Amat 40 — The Lancers led 34-25 going into the fourth quarter, but were outscored 23-6 in the final period.
Division IV
Oaks Christian 73, Duarte 35
BOYS SOCCER
Thursday’s first round
Division I
Buchanan (Clovis) 2, Baldwin Park 0 — The Braves were down 2-0 in the first 20 minutes … but they still won CIF!
GIRLS SOCCER
Thursday’s first round
Division I
Torrey Pines 4, Ayala 1 — Bulldogs coach Jeff Allen said it felt like his team was down 2-0 before it got off the bus. ‘Nuff said.