Crenshaw Takes Narbonne’s Crown

Harbor City Narbonne’s four consecutive City Section girls’ basketball championships didn’t faze Lynea Williams. The senior forward simply wouldn’t let Crenshaw lose.

Williams scored a game-high 22 points, including the winning basket with 45 seconds left, to give the Cougars a 51-49 victory and their first section title in seven years Saturday at the Sports Arena.

Crenshaw (28-1) denied Narbonne the opportunity to win a record five consecutive titles. Williams was the driving force. She scored the Cougars’ final eight points, two on a putback that provided their first lead, 47-45, with 2:55 left.

“We didn’t panic, we kept our focus and we kept playing defense,” Williams said.

Narbonne (19-8) had two chances to tie the score on its final possession. Camille LeNoir drove the lane, but her shot hit the front of the rim. Morghan Medlock, who led the Gauchos with 22 points and 14 rebounds, got the rebound but missed the putback with two seconds left.

“It just came down to who wanted it more,” Narbonne Coach James Anderson said. “We were up by eight [with seven minutes left]. How many second shots did they get?”

Williams kept Crenshaw close in the first half by scoring nine of the Cougars’ 15 second-quarter points. She caught a long pass from Tara Buck and made a layup to cut Narbonne’s lead to 25-21 as the halftime buzzer sounded.

Medlock scored 10 of her points in the third quarter to push the Gauchos’ lead to 41-34 entering the fourth, but that couldn’t keep the Cougars from extending their winning streak to 27 games.

In the Invitational Division final, Gardena defeated L.A. Jefferson, 47-46.