Marlborough rallies from 16-point deficit to win title

The first half of the girls’ Division IV state championship game Saturday morning belonged to Alex Cowling and Vallejo St. Patrick-St. Vincent. The second half was all Nikki Speed and Los Angeles Marlborough.

Speed, a 5-foot-9 junior guard, scored 20 of her career-high 25 points after halftime to lead the Mustangs back from a 16-point deficit on their way to a 67-52 victory at Arco Arena and the first state basketball title for the all-girls’ school.

“We have a couple girls who took it on their shoulders and made it happen for everyone else,” Marlborough Coach Trenton Jackson said.

Speed’s performance helped offset a dazzling first half by Cowling, a 5-10 junior swingman who has committed to Loyola Marymount. She scored 24 points in the opening half on eight-of-11 shooting but was limited to eight points in the second half. The Bruins combined for only 12 points after halftime.

“I think depth worked for us, as well as the fatigue factor,” Jackson said. “We had enough to finish, more than enough.”

After St. Patrick-St. Vincent scored the first basket of the second half to take a 42-26 lead, the Mustangs (27-6) scored 20 consecutive points before Cowling banked in a shot with five seconds left for her only points of the quarter.

The Bruins (30-4) tied the score on the opening possession of the fourth quarter, but Marlborough followed with runs of 7-0 and 8-0 to take a 61-49 lead with 3:37 left.

After making 15 of 30 shots in the opening half, St. Patrick-St. Vincent made only five of 33 in the second.

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San Francisco Sacred Heart Cathedral 60, La Puente Bishop Amat 54 -- The coach’s diagram called for Heart Cathedral to drive to the basket, pass the ball out to the perimeter and attempt a tying three-pointer. In the other huddle, Bishop Amat’s players were being instructed to allow the layup but defend against the three-point shot.

But you know what they say about best-laid plans.

Tierra Rogers instead drove into the lane with about four seconds left in the state Division III championship game Saturday afternoon and banked the ball into the basket, just as Bishop Amat senior Candice Brown was being called for a foul.

Rogers made the tying free throw and, from there, the game disintegrated for the Lancers, who missed seven of nine free throws in overtime at Arco Arena.

Brown, a 6-foot-3 center who signed with UCLA, said afterward she was just trying to get out of Rogers’ path and did not make contact. Rogers also admitted she wasn’t fouled on the play.

“I didn’t want to foul her so I stepped back,” said Brown, who finished with seven points and 11 rebounds. “The ref’s not going to make all the right calls.”

Bishop Amat Coach Richard Wiard refused to single out the play as a reason for the defeat. Not when the Lancers committed 30 turnovers to 16 for Sacred Heart Cathedral (32-2), and ran out of gas down the stretch.

“They wore us down a little bit,” Wiard said.

The Lancers (27-6) held a 47-33 advantage in rebounding, including a 13-12 edge on the offensive end. They also shot a higher percentage by more than 10 points, but never seemed in command late in the game.

dan.arritt@latimes.com