PHOTOS: Crean Lutheran uses strong defensive effort to capture La Mirada Tourney title

Crean Lutheran captured the tourney title Saturday. (Photos courtesy Crean Lutheran Shutterbugs, John Luciano).

Crean Lutheran High School’s girls basketball team led by first year Coach Kyle Rouse defeated Sunny Hills 45-32 to capture the championship at the La Mirada Tournament of Champions Saturday.

Sydnee Norwood scored 17 points, Aubri Salem had nine points and Elise Randolph eight points to lead the Saints.

“The biggest stat for us from this tournament was holding all four teams to an average of 29.5 points per game as an average,” Rouse said. “Our biggest thing we stress in our program is team defense and I believe that showed in this first tournament. Holding players from all teams below their averages consistently. We have to keep this success on the defensive end moving forward.”

An all-tournament team was not selected but Rouse said if one was picked, Norwood, who had 84 points and 34 rebounds during the tournament, would have been the top player.

To see the slide show, click on the first picture:

Sydney Norwood puts up a shot for the Saints.

Sydney Kim of Sunny Hills drives to the basket as Jordyn Norwood of Crean Lutheran defends.

Aubriana Salem of Crean Lutheran takes a shot.

The Saints Jane Hewitt attempts a 3-pointer.

Natalie Park of Sunny Hills gets some advice during a timeout.

Crean Lutheran's Stacy Echtenkamp applies defensive pressure as Sunny Hills’ Janna Mariano brings the ball up.

Jordyn Norwood of Crean Lutheran takes a shot.

“Against Glendora and Sunny Hills, Jordyn Norwood was our lockdown defender for both teams best guard, holding them both to single digit scoring efforts and low shooting percentages due to her relentless defense,” Rouse said.

He said that Jane Hewitt and Emma Goley would have been all-tournament players.

“Emma Goley was very consistent across the board with steals, field goal percentage and overall offense and defense execution until she got injured at the end of the Glendora game,” he said.

“Jane Hewitt was our consistent guard running the show on offense this tournament, she did a great job staying composed and keeping our execution consistent on the offensive side of the ball. She did all this while scoring in double figures every game but one of the tournament.”

The Saints coach was happy with the results.

“Overall, our defensive execution was what helped us with our success this tournament,” he said. “This group is incredibly coachable and I think that showed this last week. The second thing that fueled our success was our ability to have different scorers each game. Our scoring line is always very equal and we get contributions from a lot of different players which makes us tough to guard.”