It was 20 Years Ago : In 1975, El Dorado’s Boys and Santiago’s Girls Won Southern Section Basketball Titles : The Santiago Cavaliers

Woodbridge, Mater Dei and Brea Olinda are schools you automatically associate with girls’ basketball. They’re not only the best in the county, but in the state and nation too.

Long before these teams were winning championships, however, there was a little-known group of gym rats who won Orange County’s first Southern Section girls’ title.

The team was Santiago. And in two consecutive years they accomplished what no other Garden Grove team, boys or girls, had done.

The Cavaliers made it to the first two Southern Section title games in girls’ basketball, winning the title in 1975 after finishing second in ’74. In the 52-year history of the Garden Grove school district, no athletic team had been to a championship game. And in the early years of Title IX, when society began trying to equalize the role of girls and women in sports, Judy Loundagin and her team were earning a place in history.

In 1974, Loundagin, now Santiago’s girls’ athletic director, took her team to the championship game against Mira Costa. The Cavaliers lost the game, 39-32, and finished the season 21-2.

But in 1975, Santiago turned the tables. Televised on CBS’s “Prep Sports World,” the Cavaliers defeated Mission Hills Alemany, 42-33, in the championship game in front of 2,500 people at Cal State Fullerton.

“I never had any doubts that we could get there again,” Loundagin said. “I lost only one key player from ’74 and we had a really strong junior varsity team that had been very successful. So they knew how to win.”

The Cavaliers took that experience into into the 1974-75 season, posting a 23-1 record on their way to the title, with the only loss coming against Alemany in the first game of the season, 54-34.

“That loss wasn’t that surprising because we were kind of at each other’s throats for a while until we got everything worked out,” Loundagin said. “We knew they were the team to beat that year and after we lost to them the first time, I think it woke us up.”

Santiago faced the Indians once more before the finals, in the Garden Grove tournament. This time, the Cavaliers, riding a six-game winning streak, defeated Alemany, 54-34.

From that point, the Cavaliers started to gel and no one could stop them.

The team Loundagin put together was well-balanced, using speed, aggressiveness and size. Lacking knowledge of the offensive game, Loundagin, a self-proclaimed defensive specialist, used her team’s intimidation to steal the ball and run the fast break.

Penny Higdon, a 5-foot-2 point guard, was the star of the team. In her senior season she led the team, averaging 14.2 points and hitting 55% of her shots from the field. Higdon was also the tennis team’s No. 1 player and a starter on the field hockey team, as well as an honor student.

“Without Penny the team would have fallen apart,” Loundagin, 55, said. “She was the floor general and you need that. No matter how strong a coach you are, you need somebody on the court who can lead the team and Penny was that person.”

Center Carol Moreland stood 6-4. Co-captain with Higdon, she was one of the dominating forces in girls’ basketball at the time. Loundagin depended upon her for rebounding and easy layups. She averaged more than 10 rebounds and 11 points.

Rounding out the starters were Lolita Loughner, a 5-6 junior guard, 5-8 forward Naomi Malauulu and her 5-10 sister Lena.

Loughner, Loundagin believes, is “one of the two best and most fiery guards I’ve ever seen.”

Naomi Malauulu was the enforcer, who was not afraid to mix it up with anybody. Her sister Lena, although more timid, was bigger and used her size to dominate opponents.

Things started off a little shaky in 1974-75, with Moreland undecided on whether she wanted to play. She joined the team before their first game, but at that point players all had their ideas of how they wanted the season to go and it took some time before everyone put aside their differences and got down to the business of playing basketball.

“Everyone of them had a unique personality and everyone was strong,” Loundagin said. “They each had their own little quirks and sometimes you had to get in their face. Once the season started, it took a few practices to get them to mesh on the court.

“What I can say about the ’75 team is that when it came down to the end and they were getting beat, they got something from within and pulled themselves up and won the game. That took true dedication and we had that on the court. If you don’t have chemistry, you have nothing. You can have the best group of athletes in the world and not win when it comes to crunch time.”

By the championship game, the Cavaliers had that chemistry and seemed to be doing everything right.

Because the final game would be played on a court of college dimensions, Loundagin drilled her team on using the longer court to its fullest. She was also concerned about the extra five minutes the team would be given at halftime for television, afraid they would get too relaxed and let down in the second half. But Higdon wiped away all her worries.

The first half of the game was back and forth. Loundagin was anxious on the sideline, because her players didn’t seem to be working together.

“I had five individual players out on the court,” Loundagin said. “They were throwing up bricks and nothing was falling. The things they normally did correctly they weren’t doing.”

Then Higdon hit the shot that turned the game around for Santiago. With time running out at the half, Higdon let loose with a half-hook, half-throw shot from mid-court that hit nothing but net and brought the standing-room-only crowd to its feet.

“I don’t know what kind of effect that shot had on Alemany,” Loundagin said. “But when our kids came out to start the second half, they were ready to go and they hadn’t lost a beat, whereas Alemany definitely had.”

From that point, the Cavaliers cruised to victory and the celebration began.

In a special ceremony, the Orange County Board of Supervisors issued a proclamation, praising the team for increasing “the interest in women’s basketball and . . . women’s sports in general.” The plaque still hangs on the wall in the school’s main office.

“I get really mad when anyone takes down the supervisors’ proclamation,” Loundagin said. “It is important to me and to this school and the next time they take it down, I may just take it with me.”