By John Sherrard, Correspondent
PICO RIVERA – It may not be an outright Del Rio League title, but the Whittier High School girls basketball team earned a fifth consecutive league championship and created a three-way tie for first place with Santa Fe and El Rancho on Friday night.
The visiting Cardinals (17-10, 8-2) held off host El Rancho, 47-45, in the final regular-season game for both teams.
El Rancho (22-5, 8-2), which won its first title since 1992, needed a win to capture an outright league championship.
Santa Fe (16-10, 8-2) defeated California, 39-32, to make it a tri-championship.
The CIF-Southern Section will announce its playoff pairings on Sunday.
El Rancho, which is ranked 13th in Division 1A, has had perhaps one of the biggest turnarounds in the area in some time. The Dons finished under .500 last season overall and were 3-7 in league.
Whittier was led Friday by senior forward Brenda Salazar with a game-high 15 points.
“I’m very excited,” Salazar said. “Coming out here after taking a loss to them in the first round and then coming back to their house and winning is big for us, especially in my senior year.”