Santa Ana Valley Beats Villa Park, Clinches Century Title

Monique Cruz scored five points in the final minute to lift Santa Ana Valley to its first girls’ basketball league championship.

Cruz’s big finish gave the Falcons a 44-40 Century League victory over Villa Park, the only team that had beaten Santa Ana Valley this season.

Cruz tied the score with a free throw, connected on a 12-foot jumper from the corner with 26 seconds left for the lead, and sealed the victory with two free throws with six seconds remaining.

“Everybody hopes for that shot, and I got it,” said Cruz, a junior who admitted she was nervous as the clock ticked down.

Two years ago, Valley won only two league games and finished fifth. This season, the Falcons are 8-1, and 19-6 overall. Villa Park is 14-10, 7-2 with a game to play.

Cruz’s bucket ended a night of horrific shooting. The Falcons made four of eight in the fourth quarter to finish 16 of 49 (32.7%). Their shooting was better than that of Villa Park, which was 14 of 53 (26.4%).

“I’m very surprised it ended with a big shot,” Valley Coach Nicole Quinn said. “We didn’t shoot well, except for Candice [Tisdale], who kept us in the game.”

Tisdale scored 10, making five of 10 shots from the field, but Valley also got a flurry from Crystal Davis in the third quarter. Davis missed her first seven shots, then made four of five in a span of 2 minutes 12 seconds that turned an 18-16 deficit into a 24-20 lead. Davis made 10 of her 13 points in the quarter.

That was crucial because Villa Park rallied in the fourth quarter behind Lauren Yadon, who finished with 20 points and 16 rebounds. Yadon, a 6-foot-3 junior with a six-inch advantage over any Falcon player, gave Villa Park a 36-35 lead with three minutes remaining. It was the first of five lead changes in a 71-second span. Then Cruz tied the score at 40 with a minute to go, hit the baseline jumper, and buried two free throws to bury the Spartans.