By Fred J. Robledo, Staff Writer
Usually celebrations like this are reserved for winning CIF-Southern Section titles, but listening to South El Monte boys soccer coach Nelson Rodriguez explain it, winning the Mission Valley League title over three-time league champ Mountain View is as good as it gets after knocking on the door so many times.

All South El Monte needed in Thursday's league finale was a tie, and it got it, surviving a late goal from Mountain View and holding on in the final minutes to preserve a 1-1 draw.
South El Monte, which ended Mountain View's 37-game league unbeaten streak in its previous match with the Vikings, finished 11-2-2 and 9-0-1 in league with the Vikings second at 11-4-5 and 8-1-1.

"We've been chasing them for three years," said Rodriguez, who picked himself up after the players piled on top of him afterward. "We finished second every time to them and we suffered a lot. It was an uphill battle but we earned it. We earned it because we worked hard and put in the extra hours." (To continue click thread)

Today's Soccer Schedule
Boys Soccer
Hacienda League
Los Altos at Diamond Bar, 5:30 p.m.
Rowland at Bonita, 3:30 p.m.
West Covina at Diamond Ranch, 3:30 p.m.
Mission Valley League
Mountain View at South El Monte, 3:15 p.m.
Gabrielino at Arroyo, 3:15 p.m.
Rosemead at El Monte, 3:15 p.m.
Montview League
Azusa at La Puente, 3:15 p.m.
Sierra Vista at Duarte, 3:15 p.m.
Workman at Gladstone, 3:15 p.m.
Ganesha at Bassett, 5 p.m.
Sierra League
Claremont vs. South Hills at CDF, 5:30 p.m.
Damien at Ayala, 5:30 p.m.
Chino Hills at Charter Oak, 5:30 p.m.

Girls Soccer
Del Rey League
Bishop Amat at St. Joseph's, 3:30 p.m.
Hacienda League
Diamond Bar at Los Altos, 3:30 p.m.
Bonita at Rowland, 3:30 p.m.
Diamond Ranch at West Covina, 3:30 p.m.
Mission Valley League
South El Monte at Mountain View, 3:15 p.m.
Arroyo at Gabrielino, 3:15 p.m.
El Monte at Rosemead, 3:15 p.m.
Montview League
La Puente at Azusa, 3:15 p.m.
Duarte at Sierra Vista, 3:15 p.m.
Gladstone at Workman, 3:15 p.m.
Bassett at Ganesha, 3:15 p.m.
Sierra League
South Hills at Claremont, 5:30 p.m.
Ayala vs. St. Lucy's at Damien, 5:30 p.m.
Charter Oak at Chino Hills, 5:30 p.m.

Eagles midfielder Mario Burciaga nearly finished a cross but Vikings goalkeeper Christian Bucio made a great save off the line. But the ball popped straight up in front of Sador Rangel, who headed it home to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead in the ninth minute.

South El Monte had few chances the rest of the way, partly because it wasn't pushing forward, knowing Mountain View needed to score twice to share the league title.

Mountain View had a great opportunity to score in the opening minutes of the second half. Jesus Mariscal delivered a beautiful cross at the back post for Pablo Tellez, but his header from three-yards away was poked away by Eagles goalkeeper Frankie Reyes.

The Vikings' William Castillo got loose on a breakaway in the 68th minute, but was taken down on a game-saving tripping penalty by Jesus Machuca, who was red-carded for the breakaway foul.

That forced the Eagles to play with ten players the rest of the way and that gave the Vikings the opportunity they needed, finally scoring in the 78th minute when Manuel

Garcia converted Carlos Zarate's corner to make it 1-1.

South El Monte fought hard over the final minutes of regulation and almost ten minutes of injury time to squeeze out the tie, surviving three yellow cards and the ejection to Machuca.

Mountain View nearly won it in the final seconds on Andres Hernandez's free-kick cross to on-rushing Alejandro Andrade at the back post, but Andrade couldn't get his head on it, and the game ended seconds later.

Rodriguez said the red-card was a team move, and thought his team showed their guts over the final minutes down a man.

"Unfortunately he's (Machuca) going to have to sit out the first (CIF) playoff game, but that's what you do when you're a team, you sacrifice yourself and that's what happened. He did what he had to do and we got a title out of it."

After a brief pause to catch his breath, Rodriguez turned toward his players and explained why they couldn't stop celebrating.

"Every year Mountain View expects to win, that's who they're," Rodriguez said. "They beat us every time, but we've been saying for a while to do this you have to fight back.

"I think we've been unlucky a couple of years coming up short against them, but they had that mentality that they were going to win. But not this year, it was them or us and it was finally out turn to prove to ourselves that we're good enough."
Mountain View coach Felipe Corona was obviously disappointed afterward, but he said the rivalry is good for everyone.

"The Mission Valley league is special," Corona said. "They deserve credit, they fought hard and did what they had to do.

"I thought we didn't play well in the first half, but in the second half we pushed our midfield up and basically played with three defenders. We showed a lot of heart scoring late and trying to get the game winner. But unfortunately, we just ran out of time."

SATURDAY'S CIF-SS DUAL FINALS LOCATIONS
Note: All Divisions begins at 11 a.m., and conclude that evening.

Division 1 at South Hills HS
Division 2 at La Quinta HS
Division 3 at Santa Fe HS
Division 4 at Quartz Hill HS
Division 5 at Irvine HS
Division 6 at Downey HS

By Fred J. Robledo, staff writer
Wrestling Preview: Northview High School has done just about everything under longtime coach David Ochoa. But even Ochoa was surprised after the Vikings won all 14 weight classes at last week's Valle Vista league finals, which paved the way for the Vikings to earn the top seed when the CIF-Southern Section Division 2 Dual Meet pairings were announced on Thursday. (To continue click thread).

Northview, which won last year's Division 2 title in a 39-27 win over Servite, is hoping to repeat as the Division 2 champion, which will be contested at La Quinta High School.

Northview, which has won five dual meet championships, will be looking for its sixth when it opens the first round against Palm Desert, an at-large entry from the Desert Valley League.

Valle Vista League runner-up Baldwin Park will open the first round against second seed and Trinity league champ St. John Bosco.

Del Rio League champion Santa Fe is the second seed in Division 3 and has the advantage of hosting the Division 3 finals at Santa Fe.

Santa Fe will open against Pioneer at-large Torrance. California, which finished second to Santa Fe in the Del Rio League, earned an at-large and will face fourth-seed North Torrance in the first round.

The Division I finals are at South Hills High School, with Sierra League champion Chino Hills and runner-up Damien in the mix.

Chino Hills will square off against Los Alamitos in the second round. Both schools were awarded a bye to the second round.

Damien's first-round match is against Mojave River League champion Oak Hills.

Hacienda League champion West Covina is hoping to defend its Division 4 crown, which will be contested at Quartz Hill High School.

The Bulldogs defeated Ventura 31-28 to win last year's title and will face host Quartz Hill, a Golden at-large, in the first round.

Hacienda runner-up Bonita will face Orange Coast league champ Santiago while Mission at-large Bishop Amat takes on fourth seed and Mountain Pass league champ San Jacinto in the first round.

Mission Valley league champion Arroyo was awarded the third seed in Division 5, which will be at Irvine High School.

Arroyo's first-round opponent is Bay at-large Redondo Union.

Montview League champion Sierra Vista is the third seed in Division 6, which will be contested at Downey High School.

The Dons' first-round opponent is Mountain Valley at-large Banning. Should the Dons win, they will likely face host Downey in the second-round.

BOYS BASKETBALL
Thursday's schedule
Baseline League
Los Osos at Glendora, 6:30 p.m.
Sierra League
Damien at Ayala, 6:30 p.m.
Chino Hills at Charter Oak, 6:30 p.m.
Claremont at South Hills, 6:30 p.m.
Valle Vista League
Covina at Pomona, 6:30 p.m.
Wilson at Nogales, 6:30 p.m.
San Dimas at Baldwin Park, 6:30 p.m.

GIRLS BASKETBALL
Thursday's schedule
Baseline League
Los Osos at Glendora, 5 p.m.
Sierra League
Ayala at St.Lucy's, 4:45 p.m.
Chino Hills at Charter Oak, 4:45 p.m.
Claremont at South Hills, 4:45 p.m.
Valle Vista League
Covina at Pomona, 4:45 p.m.
Wilson at Nogales, 4:45 p.m.
San Dimas at Baldwin Park, 6:30 p.m.

As head coach Victor Santa Cruz and his staff put the finishing touches on this year's commitments, he can't help but be impressed.

"It's a huge opening door that this school has not had access to," Santa Cruz said about APU leaving the NAIA for Division II starting in the fall. "Now you have the stage of NCAA Division II combined with the market of Los Angeles.

"It's a recipe for a lot of success and a lot of influence." (To continue click thread)

Just last week, APU landed standout Charter Oak quarterback Travis Santiago.

"This recruiting class is symbolic of the type of fruit there is out there for us to pick," Santa Cruz said. "This is one of the best recruiting classes we've ever brought in and we believe it's going to continue to stay at a high level because recruiting-wise we're going to be able to get into the homes and get into the schools that didn't necessarily used to give us this type of access."

After UCLA and USC, APU arguably is the next-best thing in Southern California when it comes to football. Before APU was moved to Division II, local football players who failed to land at Division IA or Division IAA universities had to leave town to play at the next-highest level.

That's all changed and it's something that appealed to Santiago, who like many others in this year's recruiting class might not have considered APU when it still was in the NAIA.

"It's not little Azusa Pacific anymore," Santiago said. "This is actually big-time football now. Being D-II was a big key for me. Now I get to travel around the country and play in big-time football games.

"I'm excited for that. People around here in this Valley should really look into it now that they're D-II."

APU also landed other locals in Charter Oak safety Jonathan Thropay and Glendora running back Corey Victoria. Recruits from Southland powers such as Crespi and Corona Centennial also are part of this year's class.

Santa Cruz now has more room to work with scholarship-wise, but he said he was not at liberty to say how many of the available 35 scholarships a Division II program can have were allotted to the program by the university. APU costs about $37,000 per year for students, but it's estimated 90 percent of the student body is on some form of student aid.

As for the football program, Santa Cruz said things can be structured so a partial scholarship combined with financial aid and grants can wipe out most or all of the costs for his players. Unlike USC and UCLA, APU cannot offer the proverbial "full ride."

The Cougars currently play their home games at Citrus College and will continue for the foreseeable future. One assistant coach estimated APU had 7,000 fans for last year's home opener against University of San Diego.

From there, crowds dwindled but still were respectable.

The university is taking measure to make sure the program has what it needs to compete at its new level. The team will have natural grass and field turf surfaces to practice on this summer.

"Every young man is looking to compete at the highest level," Santa Cruz said. "There's a limited amount of Division I opportunities with scholarships. Now, being a Division II school in one of the largest markets, we've got an amazing footprint.

"The high school players are now saying they want to stay home. They want to compete and we want to compete. It's a good marriage for everybody."

Mission Valley League
Arroyo 47, South El Monte 35
In a must-win game for both teams and to at least share the league title, Primitivo Gomez led Arroyo (14-11, 7-2) with 27 points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots. Edgar Lupercio contributed nine points and four rebounds. Jordan Villela scored 13 points for the Eagles.

GIRLS BASKETBALL
Hacienda League
Bonita 55, Diamond Bar 30
Nikki Wheatley scored 15 points for Bonita to go along with three rebounds and two steals.
Ariana Abo contributed 13 points and had three 3-pointers for the Bearcats. Sarah Jackson chipped in with nine points and eight rebounds. Bonita (23-3, 11-0) opened up a 29-14 halftime lead and never was threatened. Yewande Alabi led Diamond Bar (16-9, 6-5) with 10 points.

Montview League
Duarte 100, La Puente 28
Duarte left no doubt as to who rules the league.
The Falcons (20-1, 13-0) led 21-6 after one quarter and 52-20 at halftime before cruising to victory in the second half. Duarte was led in scoring by Mikayla Tickey, who scored a game-high 30 points. Also playing well was Sheree Cox and Yasmine Wilson, who each scored 19 points.

BOYS SOCCER
Valle Vista League
Baldwin Park 4, Nogales 0
Heading into Wednesday's game against Nogales, Baldwin Park knew what as at stake - sole possession of second place in the league standings and a probable first-round home game in next week's CIF-SS Division 3 playoffs.
The Braves (13-6-2, 9-3-0) used goals from four players to secure second place and now look forward to the start of next week's playoffs in their quest to defend their division title. Junior midfielder Kevin Sandoval got things going in the 20th minute for the Braves with an unassisted goal. That was followed in the 50th minute when senior midfielder Erik Solano found himself alone in front of the Nobles' net and tapped in a rebound.
Ten minutes later senior forward Chris Morales scored unassisted. Junior forward Josue Flores closed out the scoring for the Braves in the 70th minute. Junior goalie Dakyer Villalobos had eight saves to preserve the win.

GIRLS SOCCER
Valle Vista League
San Dimas 2, Covina 0
Daisy Duran scored the game-winner for the Saints (22-2, 12-0) in the 52nd minute with an assist from Jeanette Jimenez.
Maribel Duran scored the Saints' final goal on an assist from her sister, Daisy.
San Dimas took a total of 14 shots and got four saves from Britain Chaputa.
San Dimas kept up the solid defense with the shutout. The Saints have allowed only four goals in league play all season.

Wilson 3, Pomona 0
Allison Kung scored two goals for the Wildcats on assists from Sara Martinez as the Wildcats rolled. Christina Flores scored the final goal for Wilson with an assist from Kung.
Wilson took 14 shots on goal to Pomona's seven.
Kaylin Richard had five saves for Wilson and Pomona goalie Laura Al kept the game close with 10 saves.

"These girls want to win. We started talking about this in summertime and wanting to get it done. And in order to get it done, everybody had to show up and we had to be a family."

TUESDAY'S PREP HOOPS ROUNDUP
BOYS BASKETBALL
Baseline League
Upland 55, Glendora 53
Glendora (18-9, 4-5) led 36-23 at halftime but could not hold on against Upland (12-6, 6-3). Walter Carson had a game-high 25 points for Upland. Alfred Brown added 13 points. Kyle Gordon led Glendora with 15 points and added three rebounds and two assists. Kevin Blayney also added 15 points for Glendora.

Montview League
Azusa 50, Sierra Vista 43
Jordan Blackburn scored 17 points to lead Azusa (16-9, 11-1), while Kevin Perez added 10 points. Sierra Vista was led by Antonio Solis with 14 points, and Karlo Villamoore scored nine points.

Valle Vista League
Baldwin Park 54, Wilson 48
The Braves (15-12, 6-5) took over in the second half after the game was tied 24-24 at halftime. Baldwin Park was led by Alex Delgado, who scored 17 points. Danny Lopez added 14 points for the Braves. Matt Kato led Wilson (16-9, 8-3) with 16 points.
Covina 56, San Dimas 40
Mike Peters led Covina with 14 points and Edgardo Campos and Chris Sotelo each scored 13 points. Ni o Harrel scored 12 points for the Colts.

Sierra League
Ayala 67, Claremont 42
Josh Ramirez's game-high 20 points paced the Bulldogs to a road win over the Wolfpack. Jared Ponce had 18 points, Sean McMullen had eight rebounds and Matthew Ponce had five assists for Ayala (18-7, 7-2), which hosts Damien on Thursday.

Girls Basketball
Sierra League
Chino Hills 62, South Hills 39
Lauren Cody led with 12 points and four rebounds as Chino Hills (12-14, 5-4) won each quarter to defeat South Hills (13-10, 4-5). Melanie Henderson added nine points for Chino Hills, which will play at Charter Oak on Thursday.

(To continue click thread).

SIERRA UPDATE: Watch Tom Kiss' video highlights of Claremont's 2-0 girls soccer win over Ayala for the Sierra League title. Also, Chino Hills and South Hills went back and forth before settling on a 4-4 tie after 80 minutes and two overtimes....

Inland Insider highlights on Claremont's league title clinching performance...

Reaction from South Hills and Chino Hills' wild 4-4 tie ..

But after Diamond Bar scored and sat back, those opportunities weren't there for Bonita the rest of the game.

"That was a gimmie, to give up that first goal kind of set the tone," Bonita coach Lynsee Bock said. "The second one took the wind out of our sails for sure.

"But look, they're a great side and we knew it was going to be a tough match."

Diamond Bar (15-5-4, 8-2-1) moved into a first-place tie with Bonita (12-8-3, 7-1-3) by handing the Bearcats their first league loss.

Diamond Bar can clinch at least a share of the league title by winning at Los Altos on Thursday, which would be the Brahmas' first league title since 2004.

Ironically, it was Los Altos that beat Diamond Bar at home in last year's league finale that gave the Conquerors the league title.

"It's really important," Lockett said of Thursday's game. "We're focused on winning it (league title) on Los Altos' field after watching them celebrate on ours. We want to return the favor."

Lockett's second-half goal was a thing of beauty.

She intercepted a pass 40 yards in front of the goal, faked a pass right and cut back toward the middle, then unleashed a 25-yard left-footed shot that she couldn't of placed any better.

"Tatum's been scoring goals out of nowhere all year for us," Brumett said. "Sometimes she will miss the occasional easy one, but she hit that perfect in the upper corner. And the timing was great, it set the tone the rest of the second half."

It certainly did.

Diamond bar was quicker to the ball, won most of the fifty-fifty battles and made it nearly impossible for the Bearcats to create in the final third with eight to nine players always behind the ball, and being physical at every opportunity.

Locket said that's the only way they're going to beat Bonita and Los Altos on the road in the final week.

"We're focused every practice on being aggressive," Lockett said. "You can't be soft in the game of soccer, especially in the defensive third. That's what won it, our defense was fantastic the whole game."

Bonita can still clinch a share of its first league title since 2007 with a win at struggling Rowland on Thursday.

Whether Bonita will share it with Diamond Bar, who lost 3-2 to Los Altos earlier in the season, remains to be seen.

"We'll see what happens Thursday," Bock said. "But certainly you have to give (Diamond Bar) credit. They played a great game and deserved to win today."

If you ask who has the best chance of winning a boys soccer title, I'm still going with South El Monte or Mountain View, and wouldn't rule out Pomona -- all in D-5. Claremont is the defending champ and No. 2 in D-2, but that's such a tough division to repeat in. There parity is ridiculous, but then again, they're experienced and will be a tough out. In girls soccer, the area's top teams are in D-3, which includes defending champ Amat along with Claremont, Ayala, Bonita and others like Diamond Bar, Walnut, South Hills and St. Lucy's, but the team with the best chance of winning a title is San Dimas in D-6. The Saints advanced to the semi's last year and have a veteran team to get it done.

FINAL CIF SOCCER POLLS
Boys Soccer Polls
Division 2: 1. Valley View, 2. Claremont, 3. Riverside Poly, 4. Santa Ana, 5. Kennedy, 6. Placentia Valencia, 7. ML King, 8. Damien, 9. Indio, 10. La Habra.
Division 4: 1. El Rancho, 2. Artesia, 3. Crescenta Valley, 4. Cathedral, 5. Oak Hills, 6. Santa Monica, 7. La Salle, 8. Salesian, 9. Beverly Hills, 10. Los Altos.
Division 5: 1. Cajon, 2. San Luis Obispo, 3. Carter, Granite Hills, 5. La Canada, 6. South El Monte, 7. Animo Leadership, 8. Silverado, 9. Mountain View, 10t. Carpinteria, 10t. Pomona.

Girls Soccer Polls
Division 3: 1. Granite Hills, 2. Lakewood St. Joseph, 3. Bishop Amat, 4. Quartz Hills, 5. Claremont, 6. Serrano, 7. Flintridge Prep, 8. Righetti, 8. Ayala, 10. Bonita.
Division 6: 1. Hemet, 2. San Dimas, 3. St. Margaret's, 4. South Pasadena, 5. Ocean View, 6. Sierra Vista, 7. Segerstrom, 8. Crean Lutheran, 9. La Canada, 10t. Loara, 10t. Wilson.

CIF-Southern Section Polls presented by Ford
Boys Basketball
Division 1A: 1. Capistrano Valley, 2. Mission Viejo, 3. Orange Lutheran, 4. El Toro, 5. Crescenta Valley, 6. Chino Hills, 7. Aliso Niguel, 8. Edison, 9. Vista Murrieta, 10. Corona ... 15. Walnut.
Division 2A: 1. Compton, 2. Mayfair, 3. Murrieta Valley, 4. Leuzinger, 5. Elsinore, 6. Righetti, 7. Colony, 8. North Torrance, 9. Don Lugo, 10. Westlake...12. Glendora.
Division 3AAA: 1. Damien, 2. Pasadena, 3. Palm Springs, 4. Palm Desert, 5. Tustin, 6. Esperanza, 7. West Torrance, 8. Bonita, 9. Arroyo Grande, 10. Woodbridge
Division 3AA: 1. Calabasas, 2. South Torrance, 3. Torrance, 4. La Canada, 5. San Marcos, 6. Servite, 7. Rancho Alamitos, 8. Bellflower, 9. West Valley, 10. Lakeside .... 13. Los Altos, 14, Charter Oak.
Division 3A: 1. Alemany, 2. St. John Bosco, 3. Oak Park, 4. Santa Margarita, 5. Corona del Mar, 6. Atascadero, 7. Northview, 8. St. Francis, 9. Wilson, 10. Covina, 11. Bishop Amat....14. Azusa.
Division 4AA: 1. Serra, 2. La Verne Lutheran, 3. Bishop Montgomery, 4. Price, 5. Muir, 6. Windward, 7. Crespi, 8. Oaks Christian, 9. Harvard Westlake, 10. Chaminade.

Girls Basketball Polls:
Division 1A: 1. Summit, 2. El Toro, 3. Huntington Beach, 4. Centennial Corona, 5. Riverside Poly, 6. Villa Park, 7. Diamond Bar, 8. Downey, 9. Highland, 10. Katella
Division 3AAA: 1. West Torrance, 2. Bonita, 3. Arroyo Grande, 4. Rio Mesa, 5. Gahr, 6. Kennedy, 7. Sonora, 8. Agoura, 9. Esperanza, 10. Torrance.....14. Arroyo.
Division 3AA: 1. Yorba Linda, 2. Alemany, 3. Diamond Ranch, 4. Laguna Hills, 5. Antelope Valley, 6. Palos Verdes, 7. Irvine, 8. Jurupa Valley, 9. Yucca Valley, 10. Wilson...14. Rosemead.
Division 3A: 1. Bishop Amat, 2. Oak Park, 3. Covina, 4. Atascadero, 5. St. Joseph, 6. La Canada, 7. St. Lucy's, 8. San Dimas, 9. Charter Oak, 10. Corona del Mar.
Division 4AA: 1. Windward, 2. Oaks Christian, 3. Chaminade, 4. St. Bernard, 5. Serra, 6. JSerra, 7. Muir, 8. Bell-Jeff, 9. Bishop Montgomery, 10. Rosary .... 15. Duarte, 16. Workman.

FINAL TRIBUNE RANKINGS BEFORE PLAYOFFS
BOYS BASKETBALL
1. La Verne Lutheran (18-6) -- Loss to Mater Dei, Price next
2. Damien (22-2) -- Ready for playoff run?
3. Bonita (21-4) - Dominated Hacienda
4. Glendora (18-8) -- Solid third in Baseline
5. Ayala (17-7) -- Second best in Sierra
6. Wilson (16-8) -- Area's biggest surprise
7. Covina (17-8) -- Couldn't handle Wilson
8. Rowland (18-8) -- Competed all year
9. Northview (19-8) -- Better than this
10. Chino Hills (15-9) -- Struggled down the stretch

GIRLS BASKETBALL
1. Bonita (22-3) -- Undefeated in Hacienda
2. Diamond Ranch (20-6) -- Can play with anyone
3. Covina (19-3) -- Valle Vista champs
4. Duarte (19-1) -- In area's toughest playoff division
5. Bishop Amat (16-9) -- Oh well, No. 1 in 3A
6. St. Lucy's (16-6) -- Nearing Sierra league title
7. Wilson (18-6) -- Solid second in VVL
8. Workman (19-5) -- Two losses to Duarte
9. Rosemead (17-7) -- Another MVL title
10. Diamond Bar (16-8) -- Third in Hacienda is good

If Northview beats Nogales (9-17, 5-5), the Vikings must hope Wilson (16-8, 8-2) loses one or both of its games to either be co-league champions or own the title outright.

MONDAY'S HOOPS ROUNDUP
BOYS BASKETBALL
Mission Valley League
Arroyo 57, Rosemead 46
In their rivalry rematch, the Knights found their offense early and kept the momentum throughout the game to defeat the Panthers.
Junior forward Primitivo Gomez carried the Knights with a career-high 45 points. Gomez also pulled down 13 rebounds, while shooting 17-of- 19 from the free throw line. "Since I've been coaching (for the past seven years) I can say that's been the best performance I've ever seen," said Arroyo coach Carlos Barajas. Peter Aholoka supported Gomez's performance with 7 points and 7 rebounds. Danny Villalobos led all Panthers' scorers with 13. Rosemead falls to 3-5 in league while the Knights climb to 6-2. Next up for Arroyo is South El Monte on Wednesday.

GIRLS BASKETBALL
Baseline League
Glendora 54, Alta Loma 38
Glendora was down 25-21 at halftime but came out in the third quarter and outscored Alta Loma 14-5 to take 35-30 lead heading into the fourth. The Tartans (13-12, 2-5) continue their scoring output by outscoring the Braves 19-8 in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.
Glendora junior guard Casie Lowden led all scorers with 15 points. Lowden also pulled down five rebounds. Sophomore guard Leah Bolton chipped in with nine points and seven rebounds for the Tartans. Alta Loma was led by Amari Terry with 14 points and Le'lani Mamea with 13 points.

Hacienda League
Bonita 63, Los Altos 38
The Bearcats were on point early in the game and proved too much for the Conquerors to handle.
Bonita closed the first quarter with a 24-8 advantage, helped along by five steals by Nikki Wheatley. Bonita's Brianna Kennedy led all scorers with 16 points while also grabbing 13 boards and swatting four blocks. Wheatley finished the game with 12 points, three assists and nine steals. Bearcats teammate Sarah Jackson scored 12 points and had eight rebounds.
Bianca Bosancic had 13 points for the Conquerors. Bonita stays perfect in league at 9-0. Los Altos falls to 1-7 in league.

Sierra League
Charter Oak 36,
Claremont 31
In a lackluster offensive game, the Chargers out- scrapped the Wolfpack to pull off the win.
The Chargers' Merrissa Fuarez led all scorers with 16 points. Teammate Tiffany Villaruz added six points. Reena Williams scored 10 points to lead Claremont, which falls to 1-7 in league. Charter Oak improves to 10-14 and 5-3 in league. They will host St. Lucy's (16-6, 6-2) tonight at 4:45 p.m. in hopes of moving into a first-place tie.
South Hills 47, Ayala 45
The Huskies pulled off the victory in a tightly contested matchup against the Bulldogs.
Vanessa Garcia had a game- high 13 points, while teammate Imani Payton registered a double-double, pulling down 12 rebounds and scoring 10 points.
Ayala's offense was led by Jackie Ricketson's 12 points. Both South Hills and Ayala even their Sierra League records at 4-4.

Let's face it, baseball is what the San Gabriel Valley does best. It's the sport that we can honestly say we stack up well against any region in California. Every year it seems there is at least one CIF champion and sometimes two. Since 2007 Northview, San Dimas, Bishop Amat, Glendora, South Hills and Charter Oak all have won titles, and this has the potential to be another multi-championship season. Haven't been this excited since Murphy and Nieto bumped chests in the 2008 Glendora tournament final, won by the Vikings in front of more than a 1,000 at Henderson. It's going to be that type of year. With Rio Ruiz and Daniel Zamora back at Amat, super pitcher Justin Garza back at Bonita and South Hills' dynamite tandem of C.J. Saylor and Ty France, the race for player of the year will be ridiculous. But already, picking No. 1 is hard. Between Amat, South Hills, Damien and Bonita, you have four who can clearly can make an argument for the top spot. The first official rankings come out the last week of February, but for now, make your case for No. 1