California high school girls basketball: St. Bernard's downs Grossmont 47-29 to win Division IV title

SACRAMENTO — St. Bernard's (Eureka) had three players with double-doubles, helping the Crusaders overcome 27 turnovers in their 47-29 win Saturday over Grossmont (El Cajon) in the CIF Division IV girls finals at Golden 1 Center.

Madelyn Shanahan flirted with a triple-double, scoring 15 along with 16 rebounds and seven blocks while Laila Florvilus added 15 points and 14 rebounds. Samantha Sundberg finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

St. Bernard's, the top seed in the north, was able to overcome the turnovers thanks in large part to an off night shooting from the Foothillers. Grossmont was 11 of 62 from the field for the game, shooting 12.5 percent, 16.7 percent, 29 percent and 21.4 percent by quarter.

"Our girls studied film and executed our defensive game plan to perfection," St. Bernard's coach Matt Tomlin said.

Part of that plan was to get Grossmont ball handlers going left and then use Shanahan's 6-foot-2 frame to disrupt shots in the paint.
"We knew we wanted to make them dribble-drive and I just had to be ready for their layups and to stay out of foul trouble," Shanahan said.

Kellan Hayden was the lone Grossmont player in double figures with 10.

"Our girls know who to score, but unfortunately our shots weren't falling. We had the looks we needed," Grossmont coach Grace Campbell said. "It was more on us."

St. Bernard's took an 8-4 lead early on a pair of Shanahan free throws and ended the quarter tied at 8 with the Foothillers. But the Crusaders used a 15-4 second-quarter run to open a 23-12 lead at half despite having more turnovers than Grossmont had points.
The difference, however, was St. Bernard's ability, once in their half-court set, to get multiple looks at the basket. The Crusaders held a 26-14 rebounding edge at half and outboarded Grossmont 58-30 for the game.

Toward the end of the first half, St. Bernard's twice scored low-post buckets on a third-chance basket.

"The rebounding was the problem," Campbell said.

And in the second half, the Windex work also led to 12 free throw opportunities for the Crusaders, where they converted on 7 of the 12 to staunch a Grossmont run and boost a 35-27 margin to the 18-point victory.

"We preach rebounding and we wanted to make them play left-handed," Tomlin said. "We also knew that we were playing a tight zone and that would bring in all five girls and allow for more rebounding opportunities."

Tomlin becomes the first coach to own a girls basketball title and football crown after leading the Crusaders to a 2019 6-AA championship.