Girls’ basketball: Chaminade advances to state Division II championship game

There was no stopping 6-foot-3 senior Devin Stanback of West Hills Chaminade on Saturday morning at Citizens Business Bank Arena. She scored 27 points and had nine rebounds to help the Eagles defeat West Torrance, 67-50, in the Southern California Regional Division II championship game.

Chaminade (28-4) will play San Jose Mitty in next Saturday’s 2 p.m. state final at Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento. Mitty defeated McNair, 57-54.

Also leading the Eagles was sophomore Valerie Higgins, who had 15 points and 14 rebounds, and junior Paige Fecske, who finished with 15 points, including 10 for 10 from the free-throw line. Freshman Jasmine Jones scored 19 points and junior Kayla Sato had 18 for West Torrance (33-5).

West Torrance trailed by as many as 23 points in the third quarter, then closed to within six points in the fourth quarter before Stanback reasserted herself. Chaminade’s height advantage proved decisive. The Eagles had a 44-35 edge in rebounds.

“We came back with a mission,” Coach Kelli DiMuro said of this year’s team. “They had a dream, and that has pushed us so far.”

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