Narbonne Gets Final Pass

Conflicting styles matched up Saturday at Harbor City Narbonne, where an overflow crowd gathered to watch two of the most highly regarded teams in the country.

The bruising style of Narbonne--the two-time defending state champion--proved to be too much for the quickness of Long Beach Poly, as Narbonne scored a 58-52 victory in a Southern California Regional semifinal.

Narbonne (27-3), ranked No. 9 in the nation by one ranking organization, will play No. 1 Lynwood, a 58-29 winner against Oceanside El Camino, at 6 p.m. Saturday at Long Beach Arena. The winner will advance to the state championship game.

Poly (33-2), ranked No. 10 in the nation, has lost to only Narbonne and Lynwood.

Narbonne’s size--four players are 6 feet or taller--gave the Gauchos control of the backboards; they outrebounded Poly, 45-27, which helped overcome 28 turnovers.

“Size was definitely a factor,” said Carl Buggs, Poly’s coach. “We had about 10 shots within five feet and didn’t knock them down. I don’t know if it was big-game jitters or not.”

Sophomore Camille LeNoir scored 16 and junior Jamie Funn had 15 for Narbonne, which was able to slow Poly’s uptempo style.

Poly trailed, 52-43, with 3:27 left, but Narbonne made six of eight free throws down the stretch.

“The third quarter was real important,” James Anderson, Narbonne’s coach, said, referring to a 13-4 run that began with 2:01 left in the third and carried into the fourth that gave Narbonne a 51-34 lead with 6:38 to play.

Poly got only two rebounds in the third quarter and, trailing at halftime, 26-19, went into the fourth down, 44-34, despite eight Narbonne turnovers in the third.

LeNoir scored the first six points of decisive flurry, igniting it with a 17-foot basket and a steal and layup 12 seconds later.

“You haven’t seen what she can really do because we’ve been holding her back,” Anderson said of his point guard. “Next year, we’ll let her go.”

The run essentially secured the victory. “We had to work so hard to get back,” Buggs said. “Fatigue set in.”