Sacred Heart Again Wins Title : State basketball: School of 288 defends its championship by beating Mater Dei, 52-50.

The best gifts come in small packages, just ask the girls’ basketball players at tiny Atherton Sacred Heart Preparatory.

Sacred Heart, enrollment 288, successfully defended its Division I state title Saturday, defeating Santa Ana Mater Dei, 52-50, before 10,000 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

It was Sacred Heart’s third consecutive state title. The only girls’ teams that have won more than three state titles are Brea Olinda, which has won five, and San Diego Point Loma, which has won four. Atherton Menlo School also has won three titles.

After winning the Division V title in 1993, Sacred Heart last season became the smallest school ever to win a Division I title. For Gator Coach Mike Ciardella, his third state title was no sweeter than the others.

“They all feel good,” he said.

The game featured a matchup between two of the best guards in the state, Sacred Heart’s Renee Robinson and Mater Dei’s Melody Peterson, both juniors. Robinson led Sacred Heart (38-1) with 17 points, but not without considerable defensive pressure from Peterson.

“Everyone had pumped her up to be the best guard in the nation and I think I had something to prove to myself,” said Peterson, who finished with 12 points.

Two of Sacred Heart’s top players, Robinson and USC-bound Jenny Circle, a 6-foot-2 center, played with four fouls the entire fourth quarter. But because the Gators’ bench is not very deep, Ciardella never substituted for them. He said he never worried.

With Robinson and Circle limited in their play because of foul trouble, Kobie Kennon rose to the occasion for Sacred Heart with a team-leading 16 points and 11 rebounds.

“(Kennon) doesn’t get a whole lot of accolades because we have had a lot of great people, but she has the heart of a lion,” Ciardella said.

Although Sacred Heart controlled most of the second half, Mater Dei made a run late in the fourth quarter. With the Monarchs trailing, 49-43, Peterson stole the ball from Trisha Felts and made a layup and a free throw to bring the score to 49-46 with 2:20 remaining.

On the ensuing play, Peterson pushed Robinson and was called for her fifth foul. Lori Hurlbut substituted for Peterson and, after Felts made a layup for Sacred Heart, Hurlbut made a free throw and a three-point basket to bring the score to within one point, 51-50, with 4.2 seconds remaining.

Margaret Hollis fouled Robinson with eight-tenths of a second remaining and Robinson made the first of two free throws. She missed the second and Hollis grabbed the rebound, but time ran out on Mater Dei, which never got a shot off.

Mater Dei (28-2) was making its first appearance in a state final.