Girls’ Basketball Roundup: League title race comes down to final week

It’s going to be interesting, this final week, of the Sunset League girls’ basketball race.

There are co-leaders in the title chase, and another team, just one game behind them, heading into the last three games of the league schedule. On Tuesday, Los Alamitos moved into a first-place tie with Edison by using a big second half to upend the host Chargers, 63-56. In two other league games, Huntington Beach survived against Marina, 53-50, and Fountain Valley overcame a cold night from the floor to subdue Newport Harbor, 52-30.

Senior point guard Geena Gomez poured in 29 points and freshman forward Justine Modde hit a pair of three-pointers and scored 14 points, all in the first half, but it wasn’t enough to get Edison past Los Al. The Griffins hit five three-pointers in the fourth quarter, and outscored the Chargers, 37-27, in the second half.

The teams both are 6-1 in league. Edison, ranked No. 11 in CIF Southern Section Division 1-AA, is 15-6 overall. Los Al, the No. 13 team in the division, is 18-5.

“Tough one tonight,” Edison Coach Dan Wiley said. “Gotta give it to them, [they] shot lights out in the fourth quarter. We will learn from this loss.”

Edison goes to Marina for a 7 p.m. league clash Thursday.

“That’s gonna be another battle,” Wiley said.

In a game that included several lead changes, Huntington took the lead for good on a three-pointer in the final minute by Paola Roa, and the junior point guard sank two late free throws for a three-point cushion and the host Oilers hung on for the win.

Roa led all scorers with 17 points and junior guard Stephanie Louie scored 14 points. The Oilers, ranked No. 13 in Division 1-A, upped their league record to 4-2 and overall mark to 15-5.

Senior guard Lauren Dorame hit three three-pointers and led Marina (11-12, 2-5 league) with 14 points. Junior guard Madison Yutkins scored 11 points, senior center Danielle Brown had seven points and seven rebounds, and junior forward Natasha Mangham had seven points and six rebounds.

Fountain Valley outscored host Newport Harbor by 16 points (32-16) in the second half, and pulled away to a 52-30 win over the Sailors. Junior guard Danielle Kennedy scored a game-high 14 points and senior forward Danielle Tran had eight rebounds as the Barons went to 2-5 in league and 10-13 overall.

“We had trouble putting the ball in the basket, but our defense forced 27 turnovers, which allowed us to shoot poorly and still win,” Fountain Valley Coach Cory Clarke said.

In addition to the Edison-Marina game, other 7 p.m. Sunset League games Thursday include Newport Harbor at Huntington and Fountain Valley at Los Alamitos.

In a Golden West League game Tuesday, Ocean View fell, 58-44, at Segerstrom. Sally Morris scored 14 points for the Seahawks.

In Academy League play Tuesday, visiting Brethren Christian (2-16, 0-6) was handed a 31-18 loss by Oxford Academy of Cypress. In a previous league game, the Warriors received 14 points from Abby Luce but lost, 45-28, to visiting Sage Hill Friday.

“We put forth a good effort against a team that had us outmatched in size at every position,” BC Coach Jeff Wallace said of the matchup against Sage Hill.

The Warriors play host to Crean Lutheran of Irvine at 5 p.m. Thursday at Ocean View High, and play host to Whitney of Cerritos on senior night Saturday at 5 p.m. Liberty Christian School in Huntington Beach.

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CIF Southern Section Weekly Girls’ Basketball Rankings

Division 1-AA: Edison, No. 11.

Division 1-A: Huntington Beach, No. 13.

Division 3-A: Ocean View, No. 10.

michael.sciacca@latimes.com

Twitter: @MikeSciacca