Unlikely Heroines Give Hart 5-A Title

Hart High overcame all the obstacles on Friday night at UC Irvine--a stifling full-court press, a seven-point third-quarter deficit, a previously unbeaten and top-seeded opponent and the odds of repeating as Southern Section 5-A Division girls’ basketball champion.

All of which made the underdog Indians’ 49-45 victory over Buena most impressive, especially because the Bulldogs, who entered the game 26-0, had defeated Hart, 48-30, in December.

Add to the above adversity Buena’s success at containing Hart’s big weapons, 6-foot-3 senior center Sara Wilson and 5-8 sophomore point guard Anjanette Dionne, and the taste of victory was especially sweet.

“We had to play our best game to beat them,” Hart Coach Dave Munroe said. “And we did.”

Wilson, shackled by a double-team defense, scored only eight points and had nine rebounds. Dionne, who averaged 23 points a game, was held to 12.

But championship games sometimes produce unlikely heroes--or heroines, in this case.

Junior forward Carol Gruhlke tied Dionne for team-high honors with a career-high 12 points, including six in the fourth quarter when Hart (25-4) outscored the Bulldogs, 15-6. Gruhlke also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.

Hart’s Heather Medearis, also a junior forward, scored a career-high nine points, including three free throws in the fourth quarter.

Gruhlke and Dionne each made two free throws in the fourth quarter and all seven shots from the line teetered on the rim before falling.

Lady luck? A little, perhaps. Gruhlke, however, buried a clutch jump shot from the high post that gave Hart a 44-41 lead with 2 minutes 4 seconds to play and capped a 10-2 tide-turning run.

“I turned around and no one was there,” Gruhlke said. “I don’t know where they were.”

Munroe did.

“I’m sure their philosophy was, ‘Don’t let Sara and Anjanette beat us,’ ” Munroe said. “And I knew that’s what they would do. This is the first team we’ve played that’s concentrated on both of them.”

Buena overcame an 11-7 first quarter deficit, grabbed a 27-22 halftime lead and extended it to 31-24 largely because of a full-court press that forced 26 Hart turnovers.

Said Dionne: “It was real tough.”

Buena, led by forward Jennifer Wells, who scored a game-high 13 points, had only 16 turnovers, but seven were in the fourth quarter. Buena’s six points in the fourth quarter was a season low.

“It is a real disappointing loss,” Buena Coach Joe Vaughan said. “I take total responsibility for it.”