Oak Park claims second crown after a long wait
The last time the Oak Park girls basketball team won a CIF Southern Section title, Delaney White and Lindsay Gould were not yet born.
It's been over two decades since the Eagles won the only championship in program history in 2001.
Fast forward to the CIFSS Division 5A final Saturday at Mira Costa High, and it was White and Gould who helped lead Oak Park to its second CIF-SS crown with a 76-41 win over St. Monica Prep.
Coming off a 1-20 season last year, including an 0-8 record in league play, the Eagles were in need of a reset.
Enter first-year head coach Will Burr, freshman sensation White, and veteran leader Gould, a transfer from Westlake who was part of the Warriors team that won the CIF Division 2A Southern California Regional final in 2021.
“Going into the season we all sat down as a team and talked about what our goals were. We had so many new people and we had to go in with that mindset that we're not that team from last year,” Gould said.
The Eagles proved all year they were a vastly improved team, going undefeated in the Coastal Canyon League and knocking off rival Camarillo, who had won the league 11 years in a row.
Oak Park carried that momentum into its postseason run, defeating every team in its path by an average of 40 points.
In the championship game, it was no different, as the Eagles got off to a hot start by taking advantage of St. Monica Prep's turnovers in the first quarter to build a comfortable lead.
The Mariners found themselves in early foul trouble, which made it more difficult for them to stay in front of White, who used her quickness and sharp dribbling skills to find easy paths to the basket.
White continued to pile on the points in the first quarter, driving the lane and converting in the paint. When the defense closed in, she found Gould and Ella Shmool behind the arc for wide-open 3-pointers.
The Eagles didn't relinquish their double-digit advantage for the rest of the game.
Gould led the team in scoring with 27 points, making six 3-pointers at a 50 percent clip. White nearly logged a triple-double, finishing with 26 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds. She added five steals and two blocks to complete the stacked stat line.