St. Bernard Girls Hoops Falls at Serra

girls' basketball coach doesn’t want his team to get down about Thursday night's 73-49 Del Rey League loss at Gardena Serra.

He knows his team, consisting mostly of freshmen and sophomores, will benefit from playing such tough competition, even if it means suffering a few losses along the way. Despite their record, the Vikings began the week ranked No. 1 in the .

“We just have to keep learning,” Corona said. “The experience of playing such good teams will pay off for us. I told them to keep their heads up. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. We played a very good team.”

After falling behind by 10 points at halftime the Vikings slowly climbed back, cutting their deficit to four points on a bucket by with 1:57 remaining in the third quarter.

However, foul trouble continued to plague St. Bernard (13-13 overall, 2-4 in league). Serra went 3-of-4 from the free throw line in the final minute of the third quarter to regain a nine-point lead.

The Cavaliers (22-4, 5-2) followed that with a 9-2 run to begin the fourth quarter, capped by a three-pointer from Sierra Thompson. Teammate Simone Thompson led all scorers with 16.

“We always come out flat in the third quarter,” Serra coach Mckinsey Hadley said. “We go into halftime with a lead and I see that look of contentment on their faces. But the experience of that has prepared us to weather the storm and keep fighting. After that, we didn’t give them an inch.”

Both teams maintained intensity through the fourth quarter, but frustration began to set in for the Vikings. Despite their coach’s enthusiasm, guard said they were getting down about Serra’s large lead.

“We do take it hard because we work hard,” Ford said. “But we need to play harder through those times and look to each other more for support. When it got close, we just couldn’t pull through.”

St. Bernard had plenty of offensive opportunities early but couldn’t get shots to fall. One bright spot was freshman , who came off the bench to score 11. Drummer led the Vikings with 14 points and added 12, despite struggling from the field.

“Michelle Curry was working so hard on the boards,” Corona said. “The ball just would not go in for her. She did a tremendous job rebounding and hustling to the ball. It just wouldn’t fall.”

However, the biggest difference in the game, Corona believed, was St. Bernards’ 27 turnovers, which resulted in 23 points for the Cavaliers.

“That’s the ball game there,” Corona said. “But young players are going to make mistakes like that.”

The road ahead doesn’t get any easier for the Vikings, who sit at fourth place in the league standings. Their next game is at home Tuesday against first-place Bishop Amat, which defeated St. Bernard 56-51 in the first round of league play.