Birmingham Takes Division III City Championship
March 6, 2010
Jack Pollon
Playing in the City Section’s toughest league from top to bottom came in handy for the Birmingham of Lake Balboa’s girls’ basketball team Saturday in the Div. III championship game against Monroe of North Hills.
The Patriots were able to handle Monroe’s full court press and came away with a 55-44 victory.
The win was especially sweet for seniors Jazzmyn Davis, Destiny Melton, Charnae Thomas and Chelsea Smith, who battled against the likes of Taft of Woodland Hills, Chatsworth and El Camino Real of Woodland Hills for so long.
“I don’t know what to really say right now but it feels good to be a champion,” Thomas said. “We worked really hard for this and we got it.”
Birmingham was aided by a balanced scoring attack.
Melton had 14 points, Thomas had 13 and 12 assists, Tyra Knox had 12 and Davis contributed eight.
The Patriots jumped out to an 11-3 only to see Monroe battle back and take a 19-17 lead thanks in part to a 3-pointer that banked in by freshman Ayisat Afolabi and two free throws by junior Ani Avanessian.
However, Birmingham ended the half on a 12-2 run to grab control.
Melton had six points in the first quarter and Tyra Knox had six in the second quarter.
“We decided to go man-to-man right there and we thought we could shut them down,” Birmingham coach Hollie Wilson said. “That little spurt gave us the extra we needed.”
Knox added three more layups in the third quarter and Smith made a 3-pointer as the Patriots took a 42-27 lead with 3:04 remaining in the quarter.
Monroe was able to cut the deficit to eight but couldn’t get over the hump.
Thomas and Melton scored on easy layups after steals to put Birmingham back up by 12 points with 3:01 remaining.
“Our offensive scheme was thrown off because we couldn’t establish ourselves from the point guard spot,” Monroe coach Quincy Brooks said. “We also gave them way too many easy layups.”
Afolabi had 17 points and nine rebounds to lead the Vikings (23-8) but no other player scored in double figures.
Both teams will be included in the Div. III regionals of the state playoffs when brackets are released today.