Girls’ basketball: Cowgirls, Clarendon shoot down Ayala for first title

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Layshia Clarendon scored 25 points, and Darshae Burnside had 12 -- 10 in the second half -- as second-seeded Cajon won its first championship with a 51-47 victory over No. 1 Ayala in the Southern Section Division II-A final.

The victory avenged a 47-46 loss early in the season in which Rebekah Gardner made a pair of free throws with five seconds left for Ayala.

This game was back-and-forth, too.

The score was tied at 35-35 going into the fourth quarter, but Clarendon had a three-point play and a spinning layup in the first 75 seconds to give the Cowgirls a 40-35 lead they would not relinquish. She scored Cajon’s first nine points of the fourth quarter to give Cajon a 44-37 advantage with 4:31 left in the game.

Ayala still had a run left. It pulled to within 46-43 with 2:17 left, but Clarendon hit a pair of free throws for a 48-43 lead with 2:00 left. Ariel Marsh converted three free throws with 18.3 seconds remaining to pull to within 49-47, but Cajon -- in the double bonus -- got two free throws from Bjonee Reaves.

Marsh was short on a three-point attempt with 10 seconds remaining, and her three-pointer at the buzzer was blocked by Burnside.

‘We missed too many layups and threw the ball away,’ said Ayala Coach Mel Sims. ‘Turnovers and missed layups.’

Ayala was 18 of 66 from the field (27.3%) and with 15 turnovers committed two more than Cajon.

Cajon made 18 of 46 shots (39.1%). Clarendon was eight of 19 and Burnside six of 11.

UCLA-bound Rebekah Gardner scored only eight on three-of-10 shooting. Her younger sister, sophomore Rhema Gardner, scored 17 on seven of 26.

‘We didn’t set screens for her to get her open,’ Sims said of Rebekah Gardner, who averaged 20.1 points. ‘We needed to set more screens. We were very individualistic.’

-- Martin Henderson