Crescenta Valley Gets a Buena Final

Talk about picking a nice spot to score your only basket of the game.

Karen McAleney of Buena High was scoreless for the first 31:46 of Wednesday night’s Southern Section Division I-A girls’ semifinal game against Mater Dei at Ventura High.

But with the Bulldogs trailing by one point and the standing-room-only crowd going berserk, the 5-foot-8 junior guard made a seven-foot jump shot from the left side with 14 seconds left to give Buena a 51-50 victory.

Lori Hurlbut of Mater Dei (21-7) missed from the left side with two seconds left and McAleney grabbed the rebound.

The victory was the 13th in a row for the defending section champion Bulldogs (25-2) and sent them into their eighth consecutive title game, in which they will play Crescenta Valley at the Pyramid in Long Beach at 8 on Friday night.

It will be the first time since 1993 that the Bulldogs won’t play Mater Dei in the final.

“I was thinking that it had to go in,” McAleney said of her game-winning shot which rolled on the rim briefly before falling through. “That was probably a lucky shot, but it went in. Kelly [Murray] made a great pass to me.”

McAleney’s basket came 13 seconds after Mater Dei’s Bianca Larson made two free throws to give the Monarchs a 50-49 lead.

Larson, a 6-3 sophomore who had 11 points, scored Mater Dei’s final seven points after starters Charlene Mendoza, who scored 11 points, and Tina Garcia, who had seven, fouled out.

“The occasion of coming here and playing against this team in front of this crowd was really something,” Larson said. “It was definitely my best game of the year.”

Buena’s Nicole Greathouse, who had 18 points and 17 rebounds, hit a pair of free throws with 3:33 left to give the Bulldogs a 45-43 lead, but Larson’s three-point play gave Mater Dei a 46-45 lead with 2:24 remaining.

Stephanie Kinnear scored with 1:12 left to give Buena a 47-46 lead but Larson countered with 47 seconds remaining by hitting a shot over the 6-2 Greathouse to put the Monarchs up, 48-47.

Kinnear, who had 11 points, hit another shot to give Buena a 49-48 lead with 33 seconds to go, but Larson sank her free throws six seconds later after Greathouse fouled out.

“I just felt like we struggled all night,” Buena Coach Joe Vaughan. “Sometimes you have games like that, but it was nice to win. . . . It was a great defensive game. It was a very physical game and both teams played great defense.”

Renae Hofmann added 10 points for Buena, which will is shooting for its fourth title in five years.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Southern Section Championship Games

TONIGHT

* Boys Div. III-A

at Bren Center, UC Irvine

8 p.m.: Harvard-Westlake (31-1) vs. Morningside (21-5)

FRIDAY

* Girls Div. IV-A and Div. I-A

at the Pyramid, Long Beach State

4:30 p.m.: Cerritos Valley Christian (26-2) vs. Bell-Jeff (28-1)

8 p.m.: Buena (25-2) vs. Crescenta Valley (28-2)

* Boys Div. V-AA

at Bren Center, UC Irvine

4:30 p.m.: Santa Clara (21-4) vs. Pasadena Poly (26-0)

SATURDAY

* Girls Div. III-A, Div. III-AA, Div. II-A and Div. I-AA

at the Pyramid, Long Beach State

11:15 a.m.: Bishop Montgomery (23-4) vs. Nordhoff (23-4)

1 p.m.: Muir (21-7) vs. Alemany (23-4)

2:45 p.m.: Moorpark (25-2) vs. Brea Olinda (26-3)

8:30 p.m.: Oxnard (16-11) vs. Lynwood (19-10)