Mariah Blake wants another ring She was a key part of the Westchester girls basketball team that went 29-2 last season and won the City Section Open Division championship, scoring 23 points and grabbing 16 rebounds on Saturday. He helped the Comets return to the championship game with a 66-58 victory. Hamilton at El Camino College.
Westchester will play top-seeded Birmingham at Pasadena City College on Feb. 24 at 4 p.m.
“We're confident,” Blake said.
Westchester assistant coaches EJ Jackson and Bry Anugwom took over the team just before the end of the regular season after head coach Dominic Grimes went on administrative leave and led the Comets to a finals appearance.
The Comets (22-5) and Western League rival Hamilton (24-6) split two league games. Serenity Johnson assisted Blake with 14 points. Jade Fort scored 20 points for Hamilton.
Birmingham (23-6) advanced with a 49-44 win over King/Drew in the semifinals. Zoe Mitchell, who was City's Player of the Year when his brother David Elliott led the Patriots to the 2021 City Championship, led the Patriots with 15 points. Natalie Lopez added 13 points.
Brentwood 76, Orange Lutheran 65: The Eagles qualified for the Division 1 championship game.
boy basketball
Garfield 46, Arleta 41: The top-seeded Bulldogs advanced to the City Section Division II finals to face Verdugo Hills on Feb. 24 at Pasadena City College. Jaden Barnes replaced Garfield with 15 points and eight assists.
Verdugo Hills 58, Manual Arts 56: The Dons defeated the second-seeded Toilers in Narbonne in the City Division II semifinals. Gianmarco Figueroa led Verdugo Hills with 19 points, including four threes.
baseball
El Camino Real 6, Chaminade 5: In an eventful semifinal match at the Easton Tournament, El Camino Real (4-0) held on for two grand slams to advance to Tuesday's final against Westlake in Birmingham at 6:30 p.m. was there. El Camino Real was leading by 2-. 0 when Chaminade's Matt Churchill hits a grand slam. Luke Howe then hit a grand slam to take a 6-4 ECR lead.
Westlake 3, Simi Valley 1: The Warriors' pitching, which started 4-0, was exceptional. Andrew Haberman pitched a complete game, walking two, striking out two, and allowing three hits.
Servite 2, Fountain Valley 1: Gustavo Gutierrez and Isaiah Camacho had doubles for the Flyers (2-0).
Birmingham 4, Oaks Christian 3: The Patriots held on for the win despite four hits from Oaks Christian's Carson Schaefer. For Birmingham, JB Dalun Pines had an RBI.
Verdugo Hills 2, San Fernando 0: Cristian Banuelos had nine strikeouts and Ozzie Berkowitz had two hits and two RBIs for the Dons (2-0).
Bonita 4, South Hills 0: Cam Farina allowed one hit over 6 1/3 innings to lead Bonita (3-0). Diego Villa had two hits and two RBIs.
Cleveland 2, Saugus 1: For the Cavaliers, Alfredo Martinez allowed one hit and had eight strikeouts.
Crespi 10, Sun Valley Poly 3: Troy Miller, Landon Hodge, Nate Lopez and Kristan Bell each had two hits off Crespi.
Paraclete 3, Newbury Park 2: The Spirits got their first win of the season.
Ventura 3, Hearts 1: Josh Woodworth allowed one hit in three innings and also hit a two-run home run to lead Ventura.
Huntington Beach 7, Cypress 3: Linkin Garcia had two hits and three RBIs, including a home run, for Huntington Beach.
Agoura 5, San Marcos 1: Chargers' Ethan Bloom had eight strikeouts.
Granada Hills 10, Valencia 2: Juan Tirado had three hits, including a home run, for the Highlanders, who had a 3-1 record.
Sierra Canyon 4, Camarillo 3: The Trail Blazers won with a walk-off batter in the 8th inning. Ajani Right Star had three hits.
St. Francis 3, Brother Grace 0: For St. Francis, Lucas Favret had seven strikeouts and Kal-El Hoggin had six.
La Salle 4, San Dimas 2: David Mizer hit his second home run of the season, helping La Salle improve to 4-0.
West Ranch 6, Calabasas 1: For West Ranch, Jackson Banuelos had five strikeouts with no walks through three innings.
Quartz Hill 8, Chatsworth 3: For Quartz Hill, Jeffrey Kavanaugh went 3-for-3 and Ish Quintero had six strikeouts in five innings.
Damian 6, Corona Santiago 5: Nikko Paoletto hit a walk-off 3-run home run against Damian.
Royal 12, Surreal 1: The Highlanders improved to 4-0. Zach Nagy had three hits and three RBIs.
Aquinas 1, Arcadia 0: Aquinas won the game on Jason Garfers' walk-off single in the eighth inning. He pitched three scoreless innings.
Gardena Serra 7, Hamilton 0: Jaden Harris had 10 strikeouts for the Cavaliers (2-0).
Narbonne 1, Lakewood 0: Vandross Callahan pitched six scoreless innings at Narbonne.
soft ball
El Camino Real 3, Burrows 2: For ECR, Sara Delgado had five hits, while Delgado, Senia Gutierrez and Nerissa Winokur had two hits each.
Granada Hills 3, Irvine 2: Annabella Ramirez hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning to lead the undefeated Highlanders (5-0) to victory. Granada Hills overcame a 2-0 deficit. The Highlanders then defeated Downey 9-0. Joselyn Jimenez had three hits against Downey, leading Cypress in hits in the tournament.
women's soccer
Palisades 4, Venice 3: Erica Hamilton scored all four goals for the Dolphins, who advanced to the City Division I semifinals against Cleveland.
Louisville 1, Walnut 1: Louisville won the shootout and advanced to the Division 4 final. Sekai Sardinha scored the winning goal. Louisville will face Monrovia, which defeated St. Genevieve in a shootout. Mie Kodama tied the score with a goal just before the end of regulation.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
