Hart plays it tough in defeat

The La Salle girls basketball team is no stranger to close games against the toughest competition. The Lancers played in one of the toughest leagues in all of CIF-Southern Section so the team came into the Division 2AA playoffs battle-tested in the Del Rey League and unfazed in pressure situations. That experience was evident in the fourth quarter as La Salle surged past a tough and disciplined Hart team 63-54 on Saturday afternoon to capture the division championship.

This was La Salle's second consecutive CIF championship. The Lancers won Division 3AA last season. La Salle is only the third team to win back-to-back CIF titles outside of the Open Division since CIF went to competitive equity in 2017. What makes it so tough to repeat is that teams move up divisions when they achieve more and more success.

“I'm really proud of these kids,” said La Salle head coach Scott Wiard. “They worked their tails off to achieve something pretty special.”

“We were really hyped to play this game,” said La Salle junior Audrey Chen, who finished with 11 points. “It was obviously the championship game and we played Hart twice last year. They won one and we won one, so this was like, `Who's better?' We just pulled it out today as a team.”

La Salle (29-3) led 44-43 going into the fourth quarter before outscoring Hart 19-11 in the final eight minutes. But it was the last play of the third quarter that really got the momentum rolling for La Salle. Casey Higgins, who finished with 19 points, leaped for an offensive rebound as time expired. She grabbed the ball straight under the basket and threw in the putback at the buzzer to give the Lancers that one-point lead.

Kaden Cortes then picked up where she left off in the first half. She scored 10 of her game-high 21 points in the final quarter after being held scoreless in the third. She opened the fourth with a layup and sank one of two free throws for a 47-43 lead.