BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS : Chatsworth Makes a Great Escape : City Section 3-A: Chancellors advance to first final by using height and savvy to hold off feisty Franklin, 45-42.

Size and experience proved to be deciding factors in the City Section 3-A Division girls’ basketball semifinals Saturday.

Chatsworth High had them, Franklin didn’t.

But despite having a monopoly on both, it was still barely enough for the Chancellors to escape with a 45-42 victory at Cal State Los Angeles.

Nancy Vincent, a 6-foot-1 junior center, had 15 points and 13 rebounds, and 6-foot Tynitra Wilson had 10 points and 13 rebounds to send Chatsworth (20-5) into its first girls’ basketball championship game.

The fourth-seeded Chancellors will meet Narbonne on Friday at 6 p.m. at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

Not a bad way to start a partnership. Co-Coaches Emad Whitney and Andrea Rochetti are in their first season together.

“This is probably the best thing that could possibly happen for these girls,” Whitney said.

Chatsworth had never before advanced to the semifinals. However, Vincent, Wilson and teammate Mandy Sommers were tested in the fall when they helped the Chancellor volleyball team win the City 4-A championship.

“I was still nervous, though,” Wilson said.

It showed. The junior forward had only two points and three rebounds in the first half.

She was a terror after intermission, however, dominating the undersized Panthers (12-8) on the boards. Her put-back with 1 minute 50 seconds to play erased a 42-41 deficit and proved to be the deciding points.

Vincent added two free throws with 1:03 to play.

“Our girls were trying to jump up and down like a pogo stick to keep up with them,” Franklin Coach Wayne Nagata said. “Eventually, they got tired.”

Franklin, which upset top-seeded Belmont in the quarterfinals, stayed close by making seven three-point baskets. However, Amy Yang’s attempt for an eighth to tie the score bounced out at the buzzer.

Blanca Gonzalez converted five three-point attempts and finished with 21 points. After she made three consecutive shots in the third quarter, Chatsworth’s Parisa Plant was assigned to shadow her.

Gonzalez was scoreless the rest of the way and was unable to shake Plant to take the last shot, leaving the task to Yang.