Nativity claims basketball crown

CYO Girls Basketball Championships were held at St. Joseph High School, Lakewood Feb. 20.  

In the title game, Nativity (Torrance), the Southbay Conference Champion, faced Our Lady of Fatima (Artesia), champions of the Southland Conference.  

The atmosphere was high energy in the standing room-only crowd as Fatima scored first with a three pointer. Nativity then took control, gaining the lead and keeping it into halftime.

In the second half, Fatima took advantage of penalties to get within a few points, but Nativity held on to win the championship 39-33.  This was Coach Victor Ramirez’s third straight Final Four appearance.

In the third place game, No. 1 seed and Mission Conference champs St. Benedict of Montebello faced No. 2 seed and Big East Conference champion, Our Lady of Lourdes of Los Angeles in a rematch of 2014’s Championship game. St. Benedict came out hard and fast, establishing a lead which they never gave up, and claimed the third place trophy.