Bishop Amat Is Back for More

Juanise Cornell, a second-year captain for the girls’ basketball team at La Puente Bishop Amat, remembers the seminal moment of the 2004-05 season coming in a Southern Section Division III-A semifinal against Santa Ynez.

“It seemed like we became predators,” Cornell recalled of the 57-30 victory that ignited a historic run. “We wanted teams to be fearful of us, make them feel like it was going to be a long night.”

Bishop Amat was responsible for more long nights for its opponents than any team in Southern California history. Undefeated in 35 games -- one short of the state record -- the Lancers won their first state championship.

Like other powerful programs, Bishop Amat seems destined to get inside the heads of its opponents this season, inflicting self-doubt. Only Fullerton Troy and Long Beach Poly are more highly regarded than the Lancers in The Times’ preseason top 25.

“The specter of playing a team like that, with the ability, skill and history of the last few years, you don’t go into a game like that without trepidation, certainly,” said Troy Coach Kevin Kiernan, whose defending Division II state champions could meet Bishop Amat in the finals of the Troy tournament on Dec. 7.

Unlike most strong teams, the Southland’s newest power player lacks a bona fide “star.” It attained perfection with a season-long team effort and a 56-53 victory over three-time defending state champion Stockton St. Mary’s in the state Division III final.

In the title-game victory, the Lancers hassled Jackie Gemelos, who scored a championship-record 30 but made only nine of 32 shots against defensive pressure routinely applied all season to lesser athletes.

“They had the best player in the country,” Coach Richard Wiard said. “We just had a few more good players.”

That well-rounded balance is Bishop Amat’s formula.

“All of us separately, going to different schools, probably could be stars,” said Cornell, the sister of highly recruited linebacker Jonathan Cornell. “I think we give up a lot of stardom to be a great team.”

Cornell, a brutally strong 5-foot-11 forward, led the Lancers with a scant 10.4 scoring average. Graduated guard Jessica Carrera, the only significant loss from last season, was second at 10.1.

But six others had game-high scoring efforts, and 11 of 12 scored in double figures during the season.

Among the versatile returning cast are senior guards Christen Myles (5-9), who signed with Oregon State, and Zoi Simmons (5-7), junior forwards Candice Brown (6-3) and Michelle Franco (5-11) and sophomore forward Kristen McCarthy (5-10). Simmons, the point guard, is injured but hopes to rejoin the team on Jan. 1.

As the pressure of the winning streak mounted last season, the games got bigger and the teams got tougher, but Cornell said the season “got easier because we were playing so well, and we knew what each other was going to do. Offensively and defensively, we started to do things as one whole entity.”

That experience should make the Lancers better this season, and Cornell’s contribution can’t be overlooked.

“She’s a tough match-up for teams,” said Wiard, The Times’ coach of the year. “She’s too strong and big for the smaller, quicker player, and she’s a little too fast for the bigger kid.

“Juanise is a competitor, plays with tremendous effort all the time. She’s a very good defender and a good rebounder, and that’s what you build your championships around. That’s what Kevin Kiernan at Troy will tell you -- they won their championship on defense.”

And now Troy has company.