The East County-based Christian High School girls basketball team can take pride in its 2024-25 season.
The Lady Patriots finished 8-0 in City League play to capture the league championship, placing two games clear of runner-up Patrick Henry. Christian posted a 20-4 regular season record to earn the No. 1 seed in the ensuing San Diego Section Division III playoffs, winning four consecutive games to earn the right to hang a CIF banner in their gym.
All that success led to a marathon 19-game winning streak that was snapped by top-seeded Pacific Palisades, 76-56, in the second round of the Southern California regional playoffs.
“It has really been a journey this basketball season,” Christian head coach Jermani Stewart said. “My coaching staff, along with the girls, had a goal this whole year and we kept our eyes on the prize.
“Having the No. 1 seed comes with knowing your team. Communication is a big part of our program and we talk to the girls about goals and expectations. We always discuss our strengths and weaknesses and try to make gains in everything. Our initial mindset wasn’t on being No. 1 but on working to be the best we could be. We challenged ourselves in different areas across the board and versus different opponents.
“Knowing you have the No. 1 spot does give a sense of pride and we give it all to the girls. They worked hard to achieve that and give everything they have when we ask them.
“Our starters are all impactful and we call them the Fabulous Five. It can be challenging in a smaller school being able to compete and maintain at a high level, but we have been blessed to have some girls who really love the game. We had three returners who went through the trenches last year and our freshmen and senior really stepped into their roles.”
Scoring leaders included freshman Leah Speers (20.6 points per game), senior Maepon (M.J.) Johnson (16.5 ppg) and junior Sierra Weckback (10- 5 ppg).
The Lady Pats defeated Escondido Charter, 71-69, in the section final and then kept their season going by topping ninth-seeded Cerritos, 67-58, in the opening round of the regional playoffs. State of mind
Two San Diego Section girls hoops teams qualified to compete for state titles last weekend at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento: Rancho Bernardo in Division II and Mater Dei Catholic in Division III.
Both teams placed runner-up in their respective divisions. But the journey, of course, was a memory-maker.
Southern California regional champion Rancho Bernardo ended its season with a 26-8 record following a 56-37 loss to Northern California regional champion Caruthers (26-6) on Saturday while SoCal regional champion Mater Dei Catholic (21-14) dropped a 48-38 decision to NorCal champion Marin Catholic (26-11) on Friday.
Both San Diego area teams were victimized by big scoring runs by their opponents.
Caruther, which made history by winning its third state title on its first try in three different divisions, out-scored the Lady Broncos 18-2 in the second quarter en route to taking a 33- 10 halftime lead.
Rancho Bernardo, which was making its first trip to the state championship game, came back to out-score the Lady Blue Raiders 27-23 in the second half but the damage on the scoreboard had already been done.
Mater Dei Catholic, meanwhile, won the Division IV state title in 2009 under head coach David Monroe, who recently collected his 400th career with the Lady Crusaders over 20 years. The 400-plus wins are a school record.
“It makes you feel worthy of all the hard work, all the sleepless nights, making you want to get that pay-off,” he said.
Those sleepless nights have continued this season after fifth-seeded Mater Dei Catholic upset No. 1 Southern California regional seed Pacific Palisades, 57-55, in the regional semifinals on March 8 to advance the regional final at No. 2 El Camino Real.
The Lady Crusaders remained hungry with a 51-38 win at El Camino Real (16-15) to advance to Friday’s state championship game in Sacramento.
Things were looking good for Mater Dei Catholic in last Friday’s state final. The Lady Crusaders led 21-20 at halftime and went up by four points early in the third quarter. But Marin Catholic engineered a torrid 19-4 run to take the lead and ultimately win by 10 points.
It was the first state title for the Lady Wildcats since winning the Division IV state title in 2002.
“This year’s journey can be compared to climbing a ladder,” Monroe said. “We started at the bottom, we struggled during tournament season in December, during league season the girls were working on jelling with the players who missed our tournament season, but we were ascending, and during the playoff season everything came together for the team, players knew their roles and we made it to the top.
“These young ladies wanted it and knew they could get to that state final, they came together, supported each other and during this journey, they were determined, our practices were at a different level during the playoff season. The state championship game didn’t go in our favor. However, I told the team just getting to the game is an outstanding accomplishment and they should keep their heads up.”
