Nalani White's 3-pointer at the buzzer lifts the Monarchs to a overtime victory in a battle of unbeaten Open Division squads.
The 2021 Southern Section girls basketball season was memorable even before the Open Division championship game on Thursday night. But second-seed Mater Dei's thrilling 83-80 overtime win at top seed Centennial made it memorable for all the right reasons.
Nalani White drilled a wide-open 3-pointer from the right wing at the buzzer lifting the Monarchs to a fantastic victory in a game that lived up to all the hype between undefeated teams.
A putback gave Centennial a 78-77 lead with 50 seconds left, a three-pointer by the Monarchs'
Alyssa Durazo-Frescas 10 seconds left gave them an 80-78 lead before the Huskies tied it 10 seconds later.
Rather than call timeout, legendary coach Kevin Kiernan decided to let his girls work the ball around. Centennial covered tenaciously and paid particularly attention to Stanford bound
Brooke Demetre , who had 32 points. As the clock approached five seconds, Demetre had the ball near the top of the key but found White all alone.
The 5-foot-11 junior took her time, took a dribble and drained the game-winner finishing off one of 10 division title games Thursday. Mater Dei improved to 20-0, while Centennial dropped to 22-1. The Huskies have a shot at redemption in next week's Southern California regional.
Both teams won their pools to advance to the final.
The Monarchs edged Etiwanda (64-56), Lynwood (78-70) and
Harvard-Westlake (61-56) to win Pool B. Centennial used its high-octane
offense to breeze to Pool A wins over West Torrance (100-68), Windward
(97-71) and Orangewood Academy (92-56).
The
Huskies were actually held below their state state-best 83.9 points per game average. They are led by the
duo of senior guard
Jayda Curry (21.3 points, 6.6 rebounds, 5.2 assists,
4.0 steals per game) and junior guard
Londynn Jones (21.3 points per
game).
Mater Dei have been led all season by the duo of 5-9 point guard Durazo-Frescas (17.5 ppg) and 6-3 senior Demetre (16.7 ppg).
All of California's basketball seasons were pushed back at least five months due to the pandemic. For a second straight year, the CIF State Championships were cancelled, but five of the 10 sections held championships, including all four in the South.
All eight Open teams advance to the Southern California Regional, which takes place June 14-19. 
Mater Dei junior Nalani White made the game-winning 3-pointer in Thursday's 83-80 win over Centennial for the Southern Section Open Division title.
File photo by Gint Federas
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