Lady Lancers take home their sixth CIF title with a win over No. 1 seeded San Clemente
Bishop Amat ended their regular season last in the Del Rey League standings with a record of 1-7 and many people did not have high hopes for a great tournament run. That changed after their impressive first and second round wins against Northview and El Rancho.
The Lancers came into this game with so much momentum after beating the No. 2 seed Oaks Christian in the Quarter-finals and No. 3 seed Peninsula last Saturday and that momentum carried on all the way to the championship game against San Clemente.
The Tritons were the favorite to win the whole tournament but the Lancers showed that they can compete with the number one seed.
The first half was all Bishop Amat as they ran away with a 15-point lead heading into halftime. San Clemente had the lead once the whole game and it was by one point. That’s how dominant the Lancers were against the Tritons.
After halftime, they regrouped and came back in the third to make the score 39-38.
Morgan Rust came in clutch late in the fourth quarter after she was fouled on a three-pointer and made all three free throws to pull away to the lead.
But the Tritons came back again with less than a minute left to make it a one possession game and it looked like they had momentum until Rust flushed a buzzer-beater three-pointer to extend their lead to 2 possessions and basically close the game out with a final score of 48-43.
This is Coach Buckley’s first career CIF title at Bishop Amat and the school’s sixth championship banner. The Lady Lancers will compete in the state playoffs starting next week and their opponent will be announced soon.
