St. Bernard Girls Make Statement

Still stinging from its upset loss to Oxnard Santa Clara in the Southern Section Division 5AA final last Saturday, the St. Bernard High girls' basketball team took out its frustration on Vista Tri-City Christian Tuesday night in the first round of the Southern California Regional playoffs. 

Despite playing at El Segundo High instead of on their own campus in Playa del Rey, the Vikings felt right at home. Every player scored in their 88-27 blowout over the San Diego Section Division V semifinalist Eagles (24-6). 

As one-sided as the game was, the final score likely would have been even more lopsided had it not been for a running clock in the fourth quarter.

“We came out with the mindset that we want to win,” St. Bernard point guard Chyanne Butler said. “We let the game come to us and didn’t force anything.”

Much of that mindset came from Butler herself, who started the game strong by forcing turnovers. In the first quarter, she had eight steals and two assists to spark the Vikings' 23-0 start. Butler scored six of her nine points in that stretch, sitting the entire second half and much of the first.

“She sets the tone for the entire team,” Vikings coach Bo Corona said of Butler. “Though she’s the smallest girl on the team, she plays with the biggest heart.”

Butler may stand just over 5' 0" and probably weighs less than 100 pounds, but her performance was huge because it allowed St. Bernard's starters to play only limited minutes.

“She’s one of our main players,” St. Bernard forward and leading scorer Lajahna Drummer said of her fellow freshman. “She’s a leader. She knows what we have to do to win.”

On Tuesday night, that meant coming out aggressive and attacking Tri-City Christian’s weaknesses. The full-court press proved to be so effective that St. Bernard (22-14) abandoned it after amassing a 28-2 lead at the end of the first quarter.

“We were aggressive and tenacious, and we went right at it,” Corona said. “If we saw a weakness, we were going to exploit it. We found it and went right at it.”

The rout continued as the Vikings raced to a 44-4 lead with 2:30 remaining in the first half. The margin grew to 50 points in the third quarter before the referees instituted the running clock for the fourth quarter.

Every St. Bernard player got to play--and score. In fact, the second team played the majority of the game. However, starters Kacy Swain and Drummer led the team in scoring with 14 and 11 points, respectively. 

“It was a fun game,” Butler said. “It was actually a lot of fun to watch everyone else out there. I’m really proud of them.”

The No. 4-seeded Vikings came out with something to prove after their tough 52-49 defeat at the hands of Santa Clara. St. Bernard had beaten its three previous playoff opponents by an average of 28.6 points per game. 

The Vikings know the road only gets tougher from here. The state championship is still four wins away and a loss will end their season. St. Bernard will host San Diego Horizon (21-12) in the second round Thursday night.

“Today, we came out very emotional,” Corona said. “We came off a game where we know we played outstanding but just came up short. We want a rematch, and that starts tonight.”

Boys Basketball 

Showing no ill effects from a long bus ride, the Vikings raced to a 56-13 halftime lead en route to a 81-39 victory over host Redlands Adventist Academy (21-9) in Tuesday night's Division V Southern California Regional opener.

St. Bernard (23-8) will travel to La Canada to face second-seeded Flintridge Prep (24-6) in the second round Thursday night.