SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA REGIONAL PREP BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES : Girls’ Division IV : Chowchilla Rallies to Beat Santa Clara, 47-37

To put it simply, the Chowchilla Redskins came back from an 11-point halftime deficit to beat the Santa Clara Saints, 47-37, and win the Division IV Southern Regional girls’ basketball final Saturday night at Cerritos College.

But it really wasn’t that simple.

Chowchilla left the court at halftime, trailing, 23-12, and wondering what had happened. After a ho-hum first quarter, the Redskins watched Santa Clara score 13 consecutive points midway through the second quarter to turn Chowchilla’s 12-10 lead into a 23-12 rout.

But the Chowchilla team that walked off the court looked nothing like the one that returned in the second half and outscored Santa Clara, 35-14, while the Saints shot only 21% in the second half.

“Coach (Maureen) Riley yelled at us in the locker room at halftime, and told us to play our game,” said Sherri Brown, who scored 17 points with 16 rebounds--15 of her points in the second half.

“Our game is to get the ball inside, make good passes and play aggressive. Our heads weren’t into the game in the first half. But after Mrs. Riley yelled at us, it changed.”

And the aggressive Redskins (25-2) overwhelmed the Knights (23-8).