Woodbridge Wins Battle of Big Girls--and Title : Division II-AA: Burgess shuts down fellow 6-foot-4 center Funicello as Warriors win, 53-45.

On paper, Angela Burgess appeared to be missing in action. But on the court, it was opposing center Carly Funicello who slowly disappeared.

Stalemate aside, Woodbridge had other weapons and won its second consecutive Southern Section Division II-AA girls’ basketball championship by beating Mission Hills Alemany, 53-45, Friday at Long Beach State.

In the matchup of highly touted 6-foot-4 centers, neither gained an advantage offensively, but Burgess was the one celebrating in the end.

“In the first quarter I figured, OK, my baskets aren’t falling, but as long as I play defense we’ll win,” Burgess said.

Burgess, with help from reserve Lisa Weaver, held Funicello to only four points, one in the second half.

“Coach (Eric) Bangs told me the only thing I needed to do in this game was to stop her,” Burgess said. “I just stood straight up and muscled her around.”

Funicello averages 15 points and is perhaps the state’s most highly touted junior, but after making one of six field goals and two of six free throws through three quarters, she was looking for a place to hide by the fourth.

“She never plays against any big people so she doesn’t know how to play with someone directly behind her,” Burgess said. “She gets frustrated easily and all I had to do was frustrate her.”

The two had met a year ago in the Southern Regional final, which the Warriors won, 46-41. In that game, Burgess scored 10 of her 12 points in the second half while Funicello was held to four second-half points.

In the rematch, Burgess didn’t make a field goal in four attempts and scored only two points, which came on free throws in the final seconds.

However, Bangs said his centers followed the game plan to perfection.

“We wanted Angela and Lisa Weaver to play defense tonight and clog up the middle,” Bangs said. “And that’s exactly what they did.”

The Warrior defense held Alemany (24-3) to one field goal in the first quarter as they took a 10-3 lead.

Not only was bad shooting a problem for the Indians, but their ballhandling was abysmal. Alemany committed nine turnovers in the first quarter, but Woodbridge (29-1) was not much better, committing eight.

By the third quarter, the Indians had cut the lead to four, but a 13-4 run by Woodbridge and a lack of inside scoring by Alemany was enough to put the game out of reach.