The CIF San Diego Section has had Open Division basketball championships for 11 seasons.
Nine times, either La Jolla Country Day School or Mission Hills High School played for the girls title.
Twice those schools had played each other, splitting the pair.
On Feb. 24, the Country Day Torreys and Mission Hills Grizzlies matched up for their third meeting in the Open Division title game. This time top-seeded Mission Hills withstood a fourth-quarter comeback attempt by No. 2 seed Country Day and won 63-56 before a crowd of about 2,100 at UC San Diego’s LionTree Arena in La Jolla.
Country Day, the two-time defending champion, was led by Naomi Panganiban’s 34 points.
Lindsey Jones finished with 18 points to lead the Grizzlies.
“We made a lot of defensive mistakes,” said Torreys coach Terri Bamford. “We have a lot of young players. We left the shooter wide open there a few times.
“Shots that normally we make we missed. … I’m proud of my team though. They fought. … They never quit and gave it a run.” ◆
