In a game between the top two teams in the San Gabriel Valley girls basketball rankings, La Salle again showed why it’s ranked No. 1.

La Salle, which was playing without star forward Casey Higgins due to an injury, beat No. 2 Flintridge Prep 48-33 for the second time this season, although this matchup Thursday was in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs.

The Lancers (22-6) also beat Flintridge Prep (19-2) during the Glendora tournament in December, handing the Wolves their only two losses of the season.

La Salle will host Chaminade in today’s second round. Chaminade was a 52-45 winner over Claremont on Thursday.

The Lancers got a big contribution from freshman Aislin Tamez Torres, who finished with 11 points and seven rebounds.

“She’s really mature for a freshman,” La Salle coach Scott Wiard said. “Obviously game 28, we don’t think of her as a freshman anymore, but yeah big time performance. She’s got such a great basketball IQ, so we trust her to do so many different things.”

La Salle forward Riley Higgins filled in admirably for her sister Casey, finishing with nine points and six rebounds and being a dominant presence in the post.

“It was tough playing without her (Casey), because she’s our main player of getting rebounds, scoring layups, and going to the basket,” Riley Higgins said. “But we stepped up because we had to play without her.”

After dropping their first matchup with the Lancers, 54-44, on Dec. 28, Flintridge Prep blew through the Prep League and came into the playoffs on a nine-game winning streak.

Flintridge Prep co-head coach Kevin Kiyomura knew the challenge that lay ahead for the Wolves.

“Playing in Division 1, we knew it was going to be tough and we just played our hearts out and that’s it,” Kiyomura said.

Flintridge Prep’s Maddie Smith scored her team’s first eight points while finishing with a game-high 21 points.

— Gabriel Duarte

DIVISION 1

JSERRA 66, BONITA 39: On a night when Bonita’s girls basketball team needed to be perfect, it was not.

Tressa Beatty scored 13 points, Brooke Van Duyne 12 and Lexi Mercado 7 for Bonita (22-7), but it needed a lot more. The Bearcats averaged 51 points a game this season.

“Going into the game, we knew we had to be damn-near perfect in our precision on both sides of the floor,” Bonita coach Taylor Anderson said. “JSerra missed a lot of shots in the first half, but they hit the big shots. We had a lot of wasted and empty possessions where we weren’t executing and getting the shots we wanted. There was a real lack of precision on our end.”

— Martin Henderson

DIVISION 2A

PIONEER 56, OAKS CHRISTIAN 49: The Titans (16-11) earned a tough road win, owning the paint behind forward Riley Almendarez, who poured in 18 points to go with nine rebounds.

Alissa Belen added nine points with four assists and Aaliyah Perez Sandi had a good all-around game with seven points, three rebounds, two steals and an assist. Aryanna Reyes and Leanne Castro had six points apiece.

Pioneer will host Marina in the second round today.

KEPPEL 55, LONG BEACH JORDAN 23: The Aztecs (21-9) didn’t shoot well from long range, hitting only two 3-pointers, but still went on to win by 32 points.

Alyssa Canizal scored a game-high 13 points and Jessica Jiang had 10 points and five rebounds. Keira Kamida and Maile Tamaki finished with eight points apiece. The Aztecs will host South Pasadena in the second round today.

SOUTH PASADENA 77, MOORPARK 48: Tigers standout senior Kayla Boozer dominated with 26 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists. Maddy Wang was 5 of 10 on 3-pointers to finish with 15 points and Maddie Park had 10 points and five steals.

The Tigers (19-7) will be at Keppel for the second round today. Last year the two teams met in quarterfinals and the Aztecs won.