Murrieta Valley Nighthawks Are CIF Champions

Murrieta Valley brought home the first CIF Girls Basketball Championship in school history Friday night. A fierce and determined Nighthawk team showed how tough and resilient they have become this season.

“It’s a great feeling,” said MVHS Captain Karen Wolf. “You come in for your senior year and you want to leave a legacy. Everyone always remembers the first time you win something like this.”

The Nighthawks faced a feisty Centaur team that kept the crowd on the edge of their seats all game long at the Anaheim Arena. Culver City was rattled by the physical, hustling Nighthawk defense that harassed the Centaurs all game long.

Culver City was pressured to take hurried shots and was held to 15 out of 62 field goals and five out of 26 three-point attempts. The Nighthawks also controlled the boards, out-rebounding the Centaurs 44-30. But the Centaurs held tough.

It was a low-scoring defensive struggle for the Nighthawks as they turned the ball over 19 times. Leading 23-19 as the second half began, Murrieta survived an eight-turnover, mistake-plagued third period to take a four-point lead into the last frame. Brynn Dahmer, Deshea Wilkes and Aliah Marshall nailed their shots from the charity stripe to put the game away 49-37.

“These girls spent hours and hours and hours working on those free throws,” Coach Scott Richards said. “We talked early on about how we were going to win or lose games based on how well we shot from the line, and luckily it all started to come together in the postseason.”

Marshall was the Nighthawk scoring leader with 14 points. She also had six rebounds. Wilkes had a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds for MVHS and was six for six from the charity stripe.

Wolf was the Nighthawk rebound leader with 13. She also scored eight points against the Centaurs.

Alex Morrison was stellar off the bench with two points and two rebounds and great defense.

It was point guard Ariana Hernandez that provided the spark that lifted the Nighthawks over the Centaurs’ press defense. Culver City had taken a four-point lead late in the second period.

“Ariana has so much poise and maturity that you rarely see in a sophomore,” said Coach Richards. “When she has the ball in her hands, I have total trust. It’s very good as a coach to have that.”

Hernandez ended the game with 10 points, and helped fuel the Nighthawk rally to take the lead for good in the third period.

See more photos of the championship game by clicking here.