SAN DIEGO ---- One year out of the limelight was a hard thing to endure for La Jolla Country Day High.
Vowing to not let it happen again, the Torreys used one good quarter of basketball Saturday to push them to a 62-51 victory over rival Bishop's in the CIF San Diego Section Division IV girls basketball championship game at Jenny Craig Pavilion.
The third win over Bishop's this season was the 20th straight victory for the Torreys, who claimed their ninth CIF title in the last decade.
Freshman Britesha Solomon scored 11 points in the final quarter, mostly on layups, and senior point guard Ariana Elegado tossed in 10 points as the top-seeded Torreys (25-3) scored 28 points after scoring just 34 through three quarters.
"Last year was a hard thing to live through,'' La Jolla Country Day coach Terri Bamford said. "The young kids took that to heart because they didn't want that feeling again.''
But No. 2 Bishop's (25-7) fought its way to a 30-30 late in the third quarter before yielding the final four points of the quarter. Those points started a 13-5 run that put La Jolla Country Day in charge, finally.
"We talked at halftime about getting our transition game going,'' Bamford said. "We weren't pushing the ball. We were too timid.
"But when you have a point guard like Ariana, you know the job will get done.''
Solomon scored 17 points with Elegado next at 15 points and freshman Kelsey Plum with 11 points for LJCD, which committed 20 turnovers and needed a 12-for-19 shooting in then final quarter to raise its game mark to 23-for-49.
Senior Elena White led Bishop's with 12 points and sophomore Bryn Stark added 11 points.
DIVISION III
Mount Miguel 57, Our Lady of Peace 49
The top-seeded Matadors (29-2) ran off 39 second-half points to wipe out a 21-18 halftime deficit to win their first CIF title since 2007.
Yvonte Neal led the way with 19 points followed by Myishia Watkins and Danielle Miller, who both had 11 points for the 10-time Grossmont League champions, who hit just 7-of-31 shots from the floor in the first half but were 12-for-22 after halftime.
Our Lady of Peace (23-9) held the lead until Mount Miguel took it for the final time at 38-37 in the third quarter.
The Pilots were paced by Ashlee Guay, who scored 19 points before fouling out. Amanda Shayota added 14 points and Mary Catherine McRoskey had 12 points.
