It took awhile to get going, but Redondo got on track in the second quarter pulling away for a convincing 60-37 win over rival Mira Costa in the CIF Southern Section Division 2AA girls basketball championship game held Saturday at Azusa Pacific University.
The win marked the fifth CIF title for Redondo and first since 2008. It also avenged a bitter 40-33 loss to Mira Costa in the 2014 semifinals.
It was an appropriate finish to a playoff run in a season when Redondo head coach Marcelo Enriquez notched his 400th victory.
“As far as avenging last year’s semifinals loss, that could never happen, but it did feel great to win CIF,”  Enriquez said.
Both teams opened the contest having trouble finding the hoop. It took three minutes, 40 seconds before Redondo’s Mica Enriquez hit a 3-pointer to put the first points on the scoreboard. The teams were tied 8-8 entering the second quarter.
Allie Navarette’s 3-pointer put Mira Costa on top 11-9 but the lead was brief and the only one the Mustangs would hold the entire game.
Redondo’s Nao Shiota answered quickly hitting the first of her two 3-pointers and the Sea Hawks took off.
Ami Nyingifa’s basket at the buzzer gave Redondo a 25-17 lead at halftime.
Redondo’s defense prevented Mira Costa’s sharpshooters from finding any type of rhythm in the outside game holding the Mustangs to a 25.6 shooting percentage.
“Limiting their perimeter shooting was one of our goals for the game,” Enriquez said. “They have three very good shooters, so we really wanted to limit their open looks at the basket. We had a specific game plan and the kids did a great job of executing it to the best of their abilities.”
Haley Tojo led Mira Costa with 12 points and the Sea Hawks limited Navarette, the Mustang’s leading scorer, to eight points.
Redondo outscored Mira Costa 20-11 in the third quarter and 15-9 in the final period to throttle a team that matched up well with Redondo.
The teams split their two league games by a combined seven points and were the first and second seeds in the Division after Redondo beat Mira Costa 40-39 in the regular season finale to capture the Bay League crown.
Kyra Hamlin led Redondo with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Shiota finished with 13 points and Nyingifa added 12 points.
“We expected to face Costa again in the playoffs,” Enriquez said. “The girls were looking forward to it.”
The rivals may meet for a fourth time this season if Redondo (24-6) and Mira Costa (24-7) reach the CIF State Southern California Division 2 Regional semifinals on Tuesday, Mar. 17.
First round action begins Wednesday, Mar. 11 with second-seeded Redondo (24-6) hosting No. 15 San Pedro (21-11) at 7 p.m.
Mira Costa (24-7) is seeded third and will host No. 14 Westview (21-7) Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Redondo’s CIF celebration capped off a winning weekend for South Bay girls basketball.
In the first championship game at Azusa Pacific Saturday morning, top-seeded North Torrance won its first CIF girls basketball title after rallying from a 19-point deficit for a 51-10 overtime win against No. 2 El Dorado in the Division 3AA final.
Third-seeded South Torrance followed with a 57-56 win over Colony to claim the Division 2A title.
Later in the day, fourth-seeded West Torrance knocked off second-seeded Troy 52-41 to win the Division 1A crown.
Friday night at Godinez High School, third-seeded Bishop Montgomery defeated top-seeded JSerra 59-49 in the Division 4AA championship game.
In the Southern California Regionals, tenth-seeded West Torrance (24-7) plays at No. 7 Edison (26-4) in Division 1. Division 2 seventh-seed South (23-7) hosts No. 10 Garfield (24-10), North (27-2) is seeded second in the Division 3 and hosts No. 15 Arvin (20-12), and Bishop Montgomery (18-13) is ranked No. 7 and hosts No. 10 Orosi (27-3) in Division 4.
Brackets and seedings for the CIF State Championships are available at cifstate.org.
