Girls’ basketball: Santa Clara wins Division 5AA championship over St. Bernard, 52-49
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After trailing by as many as 10 points, Playa del Rey St. Bernard tooks its first lead of the fourth quarter, 49-48, on Michelle Curry’s five-foot jumper with just more than two minutes left to play.
But Cynthia Hernandez, who finished with a game-high 23 points, made three of four free throws down the stretch to give Santa Clara a 51-49 advantage with 12.8 seconds remaining.
St. Bernard had a chance to tie the score on its final possession, but Kacy Swain was stuffed while trying to shoot inside. The Vikings then fouled Keiana Vines, who made a free throw to give the Saints a 52-49 victory in the Southern Section Division 5AA championship on Saturday at Santa Ana Mater Dei.
Santa Clara, which outshot the Vikings 40% to 27.9%, won its first championship since 1989.
Chyanne Butler led top-seeded St. Bernard (20-14) with 13 points and Swain finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Vines had 11 points for second-seeded Santa Clara (25-6) and Chanel Smith had 10 points and 15 rebounds.
--Melissa Rohlin
