Much like the Bonita boys basketball team, San Gabriel Academy dealt with injuries all season to key players.
Those key players though came back in time for the CIF Southern Section playoffs and they helped the Eagles get on a roll that seems to pick up more momentum each game.
They cruised past a tough Bonita team 73-57 on Saturday night in the Division 3A semifinals.
San Gabriel Academy (18-14) will play Oakwood of North Hollywood in the division championship game Saturday at a location and time to be announced today.
“I’m really grateful these kids get this experience because they’ve worked really, really hard,” said San Gabriel Academy coach Kevin McCloskey. “Like Bonita, we’ve had a bunch of injuries this year to (Ethan McCloskey) and Michal Baba. For them to get into the playoffs and make this run is just very special to them and I’m very proud of them.”
The Eagles made 11 3-pointers in the game. McCloskey hit three of them to give him nine points total.
Senior Jayden Mojicao scored a game-high 27 points and hit five 3s, including one with 23 seconds left before halftime to extend the Eagles’ lead to 42-26.
– Donald Morrison
BLAIR 84, TARBUT V’TORAH 66 >> The Vikings, led by freshman sensation Timmy Anderson who scored a game-high 26 points, earned a spot in the Division 5A championship game with their victory Saturday night.
Shakour Sidney finished with 21 points for Blair, Tayrance Price added 18 points and Nazsir Cammon had 17.
Blair (21-10) will take on Santa Paula in the championship game Saturday at a site and time to be determined.
Girls basketball
Flintridge Prep girls basketball coach Jayme Kiyomura-Chan didn’t know how much fan support her team would get for its CIF-SS 3AA semifinal at El Dorado High in Placentia on Saturday night.
But with a star player like Ashley Chea and a trip to the finals on the line, the team drew a great cheering section for the contest.
There was a lot to cheer for, too, as the Wolves got huge performances from Chea and Maddie Smith as they defeated the Golden Hawks 68-53.
Chea, a Princeton-bound senior, scored a team-high 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds while Smith, a freshman, added 22 points.
Flintridge Prep will face Los Osos in the final on Friday or Saturday.
“Our community is amazing, we had no idea, to be honest, on what was going to come and so this is phenomenal,” Kiyomura-Chan said of the fans who showed up for the game.
She said the trip to the finals means a lot to her as well as the players.
“I’ve been doing this a long time. This is 27 years of coaching for me at the high school and collegiate level,” she said, “and this is only my third time to the finals.”
Chea knocked down three 3-pointers in the second quarter as Flintridge Prep (28-2) built a 10-point halftime lead.
The Wolves took down their third consecutive Orange County team en route to their first CIF-SS final appearance since 2018, also beating Corona del Mar and Sunny Hills.
– David Delgado
ST. MARGARET’S 55, SOUTH HILLS 39 >> South Hills was trying to reach the CIF-SS Division 5AA final, but visiting St. Margaret’s wouldn’t let that happen.
The season is not over for South Hills (21-10), which qualified for the state playoffs that begin following the CIF-SS championships.
After South Hills raced to a 5-0 lead in the first minute, it didn’t score a field goal again until early in the second quarter after the Tartans went on a 12-1 run punctuated by Harper Gideons’ 3-pointer.
The Huskies tied the score on MaryJane Contreas’ driving layup with 2:47 left until halftime, making it 16-16.
But the Tartans answered with a 6-0 run and wound up leading at half, 23-20.
South Hills trailed 28-23 midway through the third quarter when the Tartans’ Lila Wohlgemuth drained three straight 3-pointers to give them their biggest lead, 37-23.
South Hills’ Jaylynn Year finished with a team-high 18 points.
– Fred Robledo
BRENTWOOD 52, KEPPEL 33 >> The Aztecs (25-7) lost in the CIF-SS Division 2A semifinals, but their season is not over. They qualified for the state playoffs that begin Feb. 28.
RANCHO CHRISTIAN 79, CANTWELL SACRED HEART 34 >> The Cardinals’ CIF-SS playoff run was stopped by top seed Rancho Christian in the Division 3A semifinals. Cantwell Sacred Heart also qualified for the state playoffs by reaching the CIF-SS semifinals.
LA SALLE 46, REDONDO 36 >> The Redondo girls basketball team knew its star player, 6-foot-4 junior Ella Zimmerman, was going to be the focus of La Salle’s defense in Saturday’s CIF-SS 2AA semifinal.
Zimmerman led Redondo with 15 points, but visiting La Salle did its job by limiting her shots.
La Salle (29-3) will be making its second consecutive CIF-SS finals appearance.
“We knew (Zimmerman) was going to be a problem, so our main goal was to prevent her from getting the ball and see if we could get everyone else to shoot,” La Salle sophomore guard Kaden Cortes said. “We knew we couldn’t completely shut her down, but if we could prevent her from scoring and prevent the rest (of the team) from doing something, we had the game in the bag.”
The Lancers outscored Redondo 11-4 in the second quarter to take a 21-12 halftime lead.
Redondo (17-12) was held to six points in the third quarter and La Salle had a 29-18 lead going into the fourth quarter.
– Nick Ingram