St. Bernard Wins IV-AA Title : Girls’ basketball: The Vikings get revenge for December loss to Santa Ynez with a 75-50 victory.

Kelly Shimabukuro ran down the court smiling.

So did teammate Olympia Scott who put her hands on her face in disbelief.

Shimabukuro had just made her sixth three-point basket of the game to lead St. Bernard to a 75-50 victory over Santa Ynez in the Southern Section Division IV-AA championship Saturday at El Segundo High.

“I just couldn’t believe I made them,” said Shimabukuro, a 5-foot-4 senior who finished with a game-high 22 points. “In the games recently my shot was really off. Tonight it was surprising they were going in.”

Said Scott, who finished with 13 points and nine rebounds: “She can really shoot them. Without her I don’t know what we would do.”

What the Vikings (26-4) did was blow out Santa Ynez (26-2), a team that had defeated them by seven points in a December tournament.

St. Bernard led, 36-25, at halftime. Behind eight points from Marte Alexander, the Vikings increased their lead to 60-33 entering the fourth quarter. After a scoop shot by Shimabukuro gave them a 75-40 lead with 3:36 left in the game, the Vikings began to substitute.

Defensively, St. Bernard used a match-up zone in the first half and a box-and-one in the second to stop 5-6 senior point guard Erin Alexander.

Alexander was held to 11 points, sharing team-high honors with senior Becky Rochelle.

“It was revenge,” Scott said. “We wanted it so badly.”

Said Marte Alexander: “We knew we had the advantage because we were taller.”

But it was the shortest player on the floor who stole the show.