PHOTOS: After thrilling CIF playoff road victory, Crean Lutheran faces top seed next

Crean Lutheran co-head coaches Bianca Ziemann and Rachael Ziemann draw up strategy Saturday. (Photos courtesy Crean Lutheran Shutterbugs, John Luciano and Howard Lyon)

Crean Lutheran High School’s girls basketball team is headed to the CIF 2AA quarterfinals Wednesday night at home against top-seeded Alemany.

Tip-off is at 7 p.m.

To see the slide show, please click on the first photo. For best viewing go to ocsportszone.com

Emily Reed of Crean Lutheran takes a shot Saturday.

Crean Lutheran's Taylor Feldman puts up a shot.

Maya Bland of Crean Lutheran (right) tries to gain control.

The Saints advanced with a 55-53 victory over Santa Barbara on Saturday.

Taylor Feldman scored 19 points, grabbed seven rebounds and had five assists to lead the Saints to the victory at Santa Barbara. Emily Reed had 18 points and four rebounds, Gianna DeForest had eight rebounds and eight points and Maya Bland had seven points and 10 rebounds for the Saints (15-4).

Co-head coach Bianca Ziemann praised the efforts of her team in Saturday’s game.

DeForest scored after a rebound to put the Saints up 55-53 with 48 seconds remaining.

Santa Barbara had the ball back with eight seconds remaining but solid defense by Feldman and Aynsley Bryan prevented the potential game-tying shot. Bryan had a number of key stops in the final three minutes.

“Freshmen forward Gianna DeForest captured a huge offensive rebound and putback for the game winning points which propelled the Saints to two defensive stops in the final seconds of the game,” Bianca Ziemann said. “The coaching staff and I are very proud of the Crean Lutheran Saints. We knew coming into the game it was going to be a battle and to win on the road against a very good team is incredible.”