Buena Outlasts Narbonne for Pivotal Victory

Ventura Buena High’s girls’ basketball team, ranked No. 1 in the nation by several polls, outlasted No. 3 Harbor City Narbonne, 71-61, on Saturday night in an intersectional game before 1,400 at Buena.

Buena (23-0) built a 15-point first-half lead, watched it deteriorate into a one-point fourth-quarter deficit, then closed with a flurry.

The Bulldogs made 13 of 17 free throws in the fourth quarter when they outscored Narbonne, 23-13.

“They took our best shot in the third quarter and came back to knock us out in the fourth,” Narbonne Coach James Anderson said.

Each season, Buena schedules a powerhouse to come to its gym for its annual fund-raiser. Past opponents included New York Christ the King, Palos Verdes Peninsula, Brea Olinda and Santa Ana Mater Dei.

But those matchups paled compared to Saturday night’s game against Narbonne, which was unbeaten last season and won a mythical national title.

Fans began packing the tiny facility almost three hours before tip-off for a contest that had been sold out for weeks.

Coaches from UCLA, Stanford, California and several other colleges watched as Tennessee-bound guards Courtney Young of Buena and Loree Moore of Narbonne faced off in one of the game’ many subplots.

“This is a game we’ve been looking to all season,” said Young, who scored 22 points and twice brought the raucous crowd to its feet with spectacular moves.

Moore scored 12 points for the Gauchos (18-3).

“This definitely was, in my opinion, the biggest game in the nation this year,” Buena Coach Joe Vaughan said. “Hopefully, if we don’t step on our foot, we could play each other again and that would be of even bigger magnitude because it would be in the state playoffs.”

Buena, favored to win the Southern Section Division I-A title, and Narbonne, the favorite to its second consecutive City Section championship, could meet on March 10 in the Southern California Regional final at the Forum.

“It was an intense game all the way through,” Moore said. “We’ll see them again.”

Lisa Willis scored 13 points for Narbonne and Wilnett Crockett added 12.

Buena’s Kelly Greathouse, who has committed to North Carolina State, scored 15 points before fouling out.

Courtney LaVere, Buena’s 6-2 junior forward, scored 14 points. She made a three-pointer at the first-quarter buzzer to provide Buena with a 26-11 lead.

Narbonne outscored the Bulldogs, 37-22, through the next 16 minutes, and a free throw by Amber Fouse to begin the fourth quarter gave Narbonne its only lead, 49-48.

“We let down, but we stepped back up and everyone contributed,” LaVere said.

Buena’s Emily Lewis, a junior guard, scored seven of her nine points in the fourth quarter, all on free throws. Senior guard Lauren Sargent added 11 points.

Buena made 32 of 39 free throws.

“It seemed like they made us pay every time,” said Anderson, whose team made 19 of 28 free throws.

Young said the Bulldogs passed a big test.

“We needed to prove to everyone that we’re for real,” she said.

*

Santa Ana Foothill High ended Bell Gardens’ 85-game winning streak in girls’ water polo, beating the Lancers, 5-4, in the final of the Irvine Southern California Championships tournament at Heritage Park in Irvine.

Brittany Hayes and Gabbie Domanic, both members of the U.S. national youth team, each scored two goals for Foothill (24-1), the top-ranked team in Southern Section Division I.

Bell Gardens (25-1) won two Division III titles and hadn’t lost since it started girls’ water polo two seasons ago. Foothill is the defending Division I champion.

With 29 seconds remaining, Foothill goalie Emily Feher stopped a shot from two meters by Bell Gardens’ Patty Cardenas, and then the Knights ran out the clock.

Cardenas, a junior national team member who leads the team in scoring, did not score against Foothill.

“Our goal every year is to win CIF and that hasn’t changed,” Bell Gardens Coach Robert Greenamyer said. “We got beat by a better team today. Now, we just have to start another streak.”

*

Staff Writer Michael Itagaki contributed to this story.