2022-23 Week 14B: Bonita Vista Still Standing, Headed to Sacramento

And then there was one.

The Bonita Vista Barons girls  won the Southern California Regional Division II championship, 80-67, over Lawndale Leuzinger, while Del Norte was defeated in the D-I final at Corona Centennial, 52-39.

Bonita Vista will play the Fresno Central Grizzlies (22-12), who defeated Chico Pleasant Valley, 62-51, in the Northern final, at 2 p.m. Saturday for the state championship in Sacramento’s Golden Center.

Bonita Vista trailed the Leuzinger Olympians, 34-32, at halftime.  Alyssa Alvarado scored 21 points for the Barons and her five three-point baskets gave her 113 for the season.

“Whenever she walks into the gym, she’s dangerous,” Barons coach Tristan Lamb said of his sharpshooter to Don Norcross of The San Diego Union-Tribune.

The Del Norte girls (24-11)  struggled against the taller, defensively-oriented Sharks (26-9), who kept the  Nighthawks at a distance until turning the ball over nine times in the fourth quarter as Del Norte, once behind by 19 points, cut the deficit to nine in the last minute.

Bailey Barnhard led the Nighthawks with 19 points and 15 rebounds.

TIP INS

San Diego Section teams were 18-31 in the playoffs, the boys 7-17 and girls 11-14…the Section sustained five losses to teams with higher-numbered seeds and posted three wins, two by the No. 14 seed Mount Miguel girls, against favored seeds…Pleasant Valley, loser to Fresno Central in the Northern Regional, is alma mater of pro football quarterback Aaron Rodgers…Leuzinger, alma mater of NBA star Russell Westbrook, opened in 1931 and became known as the Olympians after the school was site for selected training venues and events leading to the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles…Corona Centennial, 89-67 conqueror of St. Augustine in the Open Division semifinals, was hammered in the regional final, 80-61, by Studio City Harvard-Westlake…Rancho Cucamonga Etiwanda, which knocked out favored La Jolla Country Day in the girls’ Open semifinals, defeated Chatsworth Sierra Canyon, 55-54, in the regional championship…the San Diego Section had two regional champions in 2021-22…Scripps Ranch won the Boys’ D-IV and Imperial the Girls’ D-V….

GIRLS