Girls Basketball: St. Bernard Falls in State Championship

Pinewood 67, St. Bernard 56

The Star: Lajahna Drummer scored 16 points for the Vikings.

The Turning Point: St. Bernard lost a one-point lead in the second quarter after back-to-back 3s from the Panthers. The barrage of field goals from beyond the arc would put Pinewood in front for good.

The Quote: “These girls accomplished a lot of things this year. To get this far is an outstanding achievement of what they were able to do,” Vikings coach Bo Corona said.

The Bottom Line: St. Bernard couldn’t stop a hot-shooting Panthers squad, and fell short of winning its fourth state championship. Pinewood wins its fifth state title.

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The St. Bernard High girls basketball team sank two 3s in Friday’s Division V state championship game Friday afternoon in Sacramento.

Their opponent, Pinewood of Los Altos Hills, sank eight.

The Panthers' streaky shooting ultimately won them their fifth state title with a 67-56 win at Power Balance Pavilion (formerly Arco Arena).

“These girls accomplished a lot of things this year,” St. Bernard coach Bo Corona said. “To get this far is an outstanding achievement of what they were able to do .”

The Vikings got in foul trouble in the third quarter with Michelle Curry, Destini French and Dominique Burford each picking up four fouls with just one minute left in the quarter.

Corona said had his team not gotten into foul trouble the way it did, he would have likely applied a full-court press for the duration of the game.

“We like to pressure the ball from baseline-to-baseline and that took it out,” he said. “We had to cut it down to half court and play pressure ball from the half."

Corona, however, wasn’t ready to blame the fouls for coming up short.

“We don’t make excuses," he said. "We still got the fouls and we tried to work through that."

Pinewood was 8-for-16 from beyond the arc after shooting 8-for-38 last week in the Northern California title game.  

“We ran into a good team today,” Corona said. “They have some outstanding players. We tried really hard. We kept battling, and that’s a testament to them and how they worked all year.”

St. Bernard kept it close early, trailing by three points at the end of the first quarter and took the lead in the first few minutes of the second.

French’s put-in tied the game at 19, and both teams would exchange baskets to tie it again at 23. The Vikings would momentarily take the lead after a jumper by Curry that put them up 25-23.

Then Pinewood showed off its three-point shooting strength with three-straight shots from beyond the arc.

Hailie Eackles sank a three that put the Panthers back in front 26-25, and Miranda Soto followed that up with a three of her own. Curry made one of two free throws, but Eackles sank another three that but Pinewood up by six at the time.

“She’s an outstanding player,” said Corona of Eackles. “We tried several switches and we went from man to zone, but she’s an outstanding player and she was hot tonight.”

Corona thinks Eackles – who finished with 31 points – was the ultimate reason the Panthers got over the hump.

“Good players rise to the occasion,” he said. “She rose very high and she was willing her team to victory.”

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Pinewood 67, St. Bernard 56

St. Bernard