Saturday Recap: Whittier Christian baseball defeat Oxford Academy 17-4

If you have any scores or stats from any local high school sporting events call them into the desk at 626-544-0992 or 0991 or scores@SGVN

Baseball
Whittier Christian 17, Oxford Academy 4 — Christian Alvis-Labadie went 4 for 5 with three doubles and three RBIs and Austin Hust had three RBIs and scored three runs to lead the Heralds (1-0). Logan Veloff had two RBIs for Whittier Christian.

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Girls Basketball: St. Paul rallies to earn second consecutive trip to CIF-SS finals; Sonora, Cantwell also earn title trips

This season will go down as one of the best girls basketball campaigns in area history. The area trio of St. Paul, Sonora and Cantwell each won CIF-SS divisional semifinal games and will advance to next week’s championship round.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
SEMIFINALS
DIVISION 4AA
ST. PAUL 46, ROSARY 44

SANTA FE SPRINGS >> The St. Paul High girls basketball team returned to the CIF-SS finals in dramatic fashion Saturday night.
Nalon Smith scored 14 points and Valerie Godinez tallied 13 — including 10 in the fourth quarter — to lift the Swordsmen from well behind entering the final quarter and to a 48-46 triumph over Rosary in a 4AA semifinal.
St. Paul (19-13) rallied in the second quarter, and took a one-point lead early in the third quarter, but then fell behind 40-33 entering the fourth quarter before the Swordsmen mustered up a huge rally and finally could exhale at the buzzer when the Royals saw a 3-point try carom off the backboard.
St. Paul moves on to take on Duarte next weekend at a site to be determined. It is the sixth title-game trip under coach Robert Miller’s tutelage, including a loss to Fairmont Prep last season.
St. Paul coach Robert Miller: “It feels great. We wanted to get their bigs in foul trouble and that happened. That stopped their momentum.”
DIVISION 3AA
SONORA 59, PATRIOT 34

Meghann Henderson scored 12 points and Marissa Dunn had 12 as the Raiders continued their sensational season by shocking the No. 2 seed.
Sonora (27-3) will face top seed Orange Lutheran, which defeated Lakeside 39-23, in next week’s championship game at a site and time to be announced later.
DIVISION 4A
CANTWELL 57, TWENTYNINE PALMS 48

The Cardinals advance to the title game and will face St. Anthony, a 76-39 winner over Notre Dame Academy. The game site and time will be announced later.

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CIF-SS Boys Basketball: La Mirada comes up short in semis, hopes for state bid

La Mirada's Daniel Cabrera, right, goes up for a dunk against Santa Barbara's Bolden Brace during Friday's CIF-SS semifinal game. (Photo by Chris Burt)

La Mirada’s Daniel Cabrera, right, goes up for a dunk against Santa Barbara’s Bolden Brace during Friday’s CIF-SS semifinal game. (Photo by Chris Burt)

By John Sherrard
LA MIRADA >>
For the third year in a row, the La Mirada High boys basketball team failed to reach the CIF-Southern Section Division 2A final, as the Matadores lost 62-57 to top-ranked Santa Barbara on Friday night in a semifinal game at La Mirada high.The Matadores (24-8) lost to Compton last year and to Santa Margarita in 2014.They did, however, recover last season to win their first-ever state title, and will possibly have that opportunity this year if they get another CIF state invitation. La Mirada won in double-overtime last season against Archbishop Mitty.
Santa Barbara (30-1) will play Lynwood, a 64-61 overtime winner over Hart, for the CIF-SS title next weekend at the Honda Center.
“It’s very tough for these guys to lose this game at home, especially after doing this the last two years,” La Mirada coach Bryce Jones said.
“We wanted to get to the Honda Center (and the CIF title game). That was definitely a goal of ours these last two years, and we just haven’t been able to get over that hump.”
Leading the way for the Matadores were a pair of senior guards, Anthony Newman and Vittorio Reynoso-Avila with 15 points each. Newman’s points came on five 3-pointers. Senior guard Dylan Banks added 10 points for La Mirada.
“Newman and Vitto, they have been the winningest duo in this school’s history,” Jones said. “They have just been winners, and for their sake I really wish we could have got them to the (CIF) finals.”
Santa Barbara was led by senior guard Bolden Brace with 16 points, along with 16 points from junior guard Ben Brown.
Santa Barbara built a 12-point lead in the opening quarter, 21-9, behind a trio of 3-pointers. Newman hit a 3-pointer with 25 seconds left in the quarter to pull La Mirada to within 21-12.
After the Dons built a 26-16 lead on a layup by Brown, the Matadores went on a 10-2 run later in the second quarter, highlighted by a pair of dunks by Daniel Cabrera and Rendwick Helaire (six points). La Mirada scored the last six points of the half, ending with a long 3-pointer by Newman to end the half as La Mirada trailed by just one, 34-33.
“I remember when I was a freshman when we got knocked out of the first round, I said to Newman, ‘This isn’t going to happen for long,’ ” Reynoso-Avila said. “Our goal was to come here and change the program, and I think we did by going three years to the semifinals and winning the state.”
Both teams traded baskets in the third quarter, with the Dons leading by a basket, 46-44.
“We gave it our all and I’d do it again with them (team) if I could,” an emotional Newman said. “They (Santa Barbara) played a great game, but it means a lot what coach said.”

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CIF-SS Girls Soccer: La Mirada, Schurr advance; La Serna, Cal ousted

La Mirada's Amanda Duran (14) watches her ball score past Santa Monica's goalie scoring their second goal in the first half of girls soccer playoff game action with La Mirada vs. Santa Monica high at La Mirada, Thursday, February 25, 2016. (Mike Mullen photo)

La Mirada’s Amanda Duran (14) watches her ball score past Santa Monica’s goalie scoring their second goal in the first half of girls soccer playoff game action with La Mirada vs. Santa Monica high at La Mirada, Thursday, February 25, 2016. (Mike Mullen photo)


GIRLS SOCCER
CIF-SS PLAYOFFS
QUARTERFINALS
DIVISION 4
LA MIRADA 2, Santa Monica 1

LA MIRADA >> Defending CIF Southern Section Division 4 girls soccer champion La Mirada took one more big step toward repeating Thursday night with a 2-1 victory over visiting Santa Monica in the quarterfinals.The Matadores will be at Royal (Simi Valley) in the semifinals Tuesday.
Junior forward Vanessa Gonzalez got things rolling in the 16th minute with a straightaway goal deep in the penalty area off of a ricocheted attempt and senior Amanda Duran expanded the lead to 2-0 19 minutes later on a breakaway attempt that just squeaked into the net.
Viking captain Chloe Kleinman rounded out the scoring after the break with a penalty kick in the 52nd minute, which brought Santa Monica’s fans back into the equation for the rest of the contest.
Melissa Torres made sure the score would stay right there, however, notching three of her four saves in the second half. Shots were close in the end, with the Matadores finishing with a 7-6 edge, but La Mirada created the better looks overall.
La Mirada coach David Christensen: “Just like I told my team, heart of a champion. They (Santa Monica) are a great team. We were kind of getting pounded at the beginning of the game and to their credit we needed to make adjustments. My kids just fought, they’ve been here before last year and they want to do it again.”
La Mirada goalie Melissa Torres: “We just had to push through until the end. They came at us hard so we just had to keep working. We played really hard today.”
— Daniel Van Hoosier
DIVISION 5
ALTA LOMA 3, CAL 2
RANCHO CUCAMONGA >>
Jessica Cota picked a good time to pick up her first goal of the season.In the 70th minute, the Alta Loma attacker outraced Whittier California High goalkeeper Rachyl Robles for a crossing pass from Diana Pineda and muscled the ball into the goal to give the host Braves a 3-1 lead as they held on over a frantic final 10 minutes for a 3-2 win in a CIF-Southern Section Division 5 quarterfinal game Thursday.Samantha Garcia and Viviana Ramirez scored goals for the Condors, who finished 20-6-1
Cal coach Brian Bordier: They’re a good squad. They kept fighting the entire time and they equalized. I thought we had a few more opportunities in the first half, and I think they had a few more in the second half then we did.”
— Bill Norris
THURSDAY’S SCORES
DIVISION 4

La Mirada 2, Santa Monica 1
DIVISION 5
La Quinta 1, La Serna 0
Alta Loma 3, Cal 2
DIVISION 6
Schurr 2, Temescal Canyon 1
TUESDAY’S SEMIFINALS
DIVISION 4

La Mirada at Royal
DIVISION 6
Schurr at Bloomington

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Girls Basketball: Sonora, St. Paul, Cantwell march into semifinals

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GIRLS BASKETBALL
CIF-SS PLAYOFFS
DIVISION 3AA
SONORA 49, SOUTH HILLS 40
LA HABRA >>
Sonora High School’s feisty defense and the outside shooting of Lainie James helped the Raiders to a 49-40 victory over South Hills in the CIF Southern Section Division 3AA quarterfinals on Wednesday.James knocked down four 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 20 points to help the Raiders advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2010. They will be on the road against the Esperanza-Patriot quarterfinal winner on Saturday.
Sonora’s Marissa Dunn had 10 points and Angela Rodriguez finished with nine to pace the third-seeded Raiders, who improved to 26-3. The Huskies finished the season 21-8.
Sonora raced to a 16-6 first quarter lead and led, 23-12, after Rodriguez’s bucket midway through the second quarter.
Denise Wang, who finished with a team-leading 16 points for South Hills, drilled four 3-pointers and hit two 3s toward the end of the first half to cut the Raiders’ lead to 32-25.
But the Huskies didn’t shoot well enough, particularly in the second half, falling behind, 45-33, after three quarters.
Sonora coach Melissa Barajas: “She’s (James) been shooting awesome in the playoffs. And the girls have been great about finding her.”
Sonora’s Lainie James: “My teammates found me and I hit shots.”
— Fred Robledo
DIVISION 4AA
ST. PAUL 57, ST. MONICA 44

SANTA FE SPRINGS — St. Paul’s playoff win Wednesday night may not go down as an offensive masterpiece, but the Swordsmen used plenty of activity and pressure on the defensive end as one of the keys to their CIF Southern Section Division 4AA quarterfinal triumph over visiting St. Monica.
The Swordsmen limited the output of some of the Mariner shooters, and also got to the foul line often in the 57-44 victory that moved them into a Saturday night semifinal against Rosary, which ousted Flintridge Sacred Heart.
The game was tied at 13 after the first quarter, and then St. Paul dominated the second period to take a 34-22 halftime lead.
The Swordsmen got nine first-half points each from senior guard Adrianna Gonzalez, sophomore guard Valerie Godinez, and junior guard Nalon Smith.
The trio wound up combining for 41 points as Gonzalez and Smith each notched 14 points and Godinez totaled 13.
The third quarter was battled to a standstill as the Swordsmen took a 43-31 advantage into the final quarter.
The Mariners did rally sharply early in the fourth and pulled within 45-40 with about six minutes to play, but the home team then went up 52-40 and there was little suspense left.
St. Paul coach Robert Miller: “We were able to kind of control their (top) offensive players.
— Mark Carpenter
OTHER SCORE
DIVISION 4A

Cantwell 71, Louisville 51
SATURDAY’S SCHEDULE
SEMIFINALS
DIVISION 3AA

Sonora at Patriot, 7 p.m.
DIVISION 4AA
Rosary at St. Paul, 7 p.m.
DIVISION 4A
Cantwell-Sacred Heart of Mary at Twentynine Palms, 7 p.m.

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