Whitney High in Cerritos, long regarded as having one of the best academic schools inthe nation, proved on Saturday how brains and brawn can go together. The Wildcats culminated an historic girls basketball season by winning their first state title, defeating Half Moon Bay 48-40 in the Division IV final at Golden 1 Center.
“I put my heart and soul into this,” coach Myron Jacobs said. “This is my final gift to the seniors.”
Whitney (28-9), which has a roster in which every girl is an A student, never trailed after opening a 10-0 lead to start the game. Haylie Wang finished with 17 points and nine rebounds before fouling out with 1:02 left. Alyssa So, a sophomore, showed how comfortable she was playing in an NBA arena by making two threes in the first quarter. She finished with 15 points.
“It was exhilarating,” So said of the environment for a 10 a.m. game. “It felt so big and so loud.”
All So needed was encouragement from Jacobs.
“I was hearing coach say, ‘Shoot it.’ It gives me confidence,” So said.
Whitney’s demographics includes 79% Asian student body. Academics is the priority for every student, so much so that even though the team was playing for a state title, players were focused on finals next week.
“We’re all studying in our hotel at night,” So said.
The big challenge for Whitney was dealing with Half Moon Bay center Zoey Lemoge. She had 18 points and 18 rebounds, but Whitney made her work hard and hustled for rebounds. Half Moon Bay got as close as 44-40 with 3:17 left. Wang scored with two minutes left for a six-point lead and So made two free throws with 31.3 seconds left for a 48-40 advantage.
Leading from start to finish took pressure off Whitney players.
“I felt more confident,” So said. “If I made a mistake, it wasn’t the end of the world.”
Now there’s time for a little bit of celebrating before it’s back to the books and test time.
