The lady Lancers of Bishop Amat Memorial High School in La Puente won their second consecutive state Division III girls basketball championship March 18 at the Arco Arena in Sacramento.

In the 53-39 victory over Sacramento High, Amat's collapsing defense caused 25 turnovers and held Sacramento to its lowest score of an otherwise successful 32-4 season.

"We were good on defense last year; we were good on defense again this year," Coach Richard Wiard told The Tidings. "We made a statement with our defense all year long."

"But we won because our team had good balance offensively, good inside players and a few perimeter players who really stepped up to make some plays," he added. "Plus we had depth."

The championship game's top scorer was Bishop Amat's Juanise Cornell, a 5-11 forward, with 16 points, seven rebounds and two steals.

Sophomore Kristen McCarthy had 10 points, with Christen Myles and Candice Brown scoring eight apiece for the Lancers. Off the bench, sophomore Ashley Adams ignited a second-quarter 13-point rally.

The Lancers' only loss in their 35-1 season was Dec. 9 to Division II champion Fullerton Troy, the top-ranked team in California. After that, Bishop Amat won 30 straight games, holding the opposition to less than 40 points in each of the final six victories; only three times all year, in fact, did the Lancers allow 50 or more points in a game.

En route, Bishop Amat earned the Del Rey League, CIF-Southern Section III-A and Southern California Regional titles.