The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Moreno Valley can’t sustain fast start, falls to St. Anthony in final
The love and good feeling the Moreno Valley girls basketball team has for each other remains strong.
Coach Larry Wright appreciates that but wished the team could have done a better job rebounding and sticking with the game plan a little better Friday night.
Moreno Valley took a 19-4 advantage in the first six minutes of the game, but St. Anthony made defensive adjustments to slow down the Vikings. The Saints outscored Moreno Valley by a 21-13 margin down the stretch on route to a 64-58 victory in the CIF Southern Section Division 2AA championship game at Azusa Pacific University.
Moreno Valley, (28-5) had won 12 consecutive games before Friday’s loss. The Vikings were seeking the program’s second championship.
St. Anthony (24-7) won the rebounding battle 34-29. Neither Wright nor St. Anthony coach Ray Bennett thought the Moreno Valley advantage was a lock.
“The lead wasn’t sustainable,” Wright said.
“We knew they wouldn’t give up.”
Leiayjah Mills rebounded her missed 3-pointer and scored to give Moreno Valley a 15-point lead with 1:37 remaining in the opening period. St. Anthony’s Kadence Lloyd answered with four points to spark an 11-0 run over the next five minutes to get within four points.
“We would get three stops in a row but wouldn’t come up with any points,” Bennett said.
Lloyd made 11 of 12 free throws, including one at the end of the third to cut Moreno Valley’s lead to two. Lloyd paced St. Anthony with 22 points, while Ryann Bennett, the coach’s daughter, added 14 points after not scoring in the first half.
“In the second half, they sent two players after Leiayjah and always kept a player in the lane on defense,” Wright said.
After intermission, Moreno Valley made only one of six from outside the three-point line. Mckenzie Gillman, a junior transfer from Riverside Poly, came off the bench to lead Moreno Valley with 17 points. Mills added 15 for the Vikings.
Bennett hit a 3-pointer in the first minute of the fourth quarter to give St. Anthony the lead. Melaiah Joseph followed with a layup and Lloyd hit a 3-point shot.
“We knew we had to stop Joseph, Lloyd, and Bennett,” Wright said.
Doing that proved much more difficult. The loss hurt, but Mills said the team loves each other like sisters.
“I still have faith in everybody, and we’ll just keep working to get better,” Mills said.