GIRLS' BASKETBALL ROUNDUP: MUIR TOO MUCH FOR C.VALLEY.

Byline: Roman Veytsman

Special to the Daily News

There's a reason why the Muir of Pasadena girls' basketball team has lost just one Pacific League game in the past four seasons. When the Mustangs get down, they don't panic.

Before cruising to a 51-29 victory against host Crescenta Valley of La Cresenta, Muir trailed the Falcons 20-11 but went on to win its 19th straight league contest.

"They're very athletic, they're very fast, and they're relentless," Crescenta Valley coach Jason Perez said. "What they do is they don't get down on themselves when they have a little bad quarter. They stay calm, stay composed and keep doing their thing."

Mustangs junior center Brittany Henderson scored 15 points and pulled down 13 rebounds. Baylor-bound guard Cherrish Wallace scored eight points and had sevenrebounds, despite playing with an injured hip and fouling out midway through the fourth.

The Mustangs had a quiet first quarter as C.V. made open perimeter shots en route to its nine-point lead. But Muir answered with a 26-2 run and held the Falcons to ninepoints in the second half.

"We concentrated more, especially on the defensive end and worked our way back into the offense," Muir coach Gary Johnson said.

C.V. (13-5, 3-2) played without sophomore starter Melanie Samvalian, who was the team's third leading scorer before spraining her knee. It didn't help that junior forward Lorrin Cheeney picked up her third foul and had to sit down right when Muir began its spurt.

Still, there was little doubt that Muir would regain its form after the first quarter. Henderson, Wallace, junior Eliza Pierre, and senior Chrishawn Frierson have played together for a long time.

Frierson and Pierre each added eight points and helped Muir rattle the Falcons, who received 10 points from Candice Chessum.

La Canada 54, Monrovia 52: Stephanie Anderson scored 23 points and Lisa Sanfilippo added 12 to lead La Canada to a thrilling victory Wednesday in both teams' Rio Hondo League opener.

"It was a hard fought game by both teams," La Canada coach Tamar Hill said. "Everyone contributed, but we had stretches where we couldn't put it in the hoop."

The Spartans (9-7) scored consecutive baskets to tie the score at 48-48 with 1:40 remaining.

Anderson was fouled with 47 seconds left and made one of two free throws. Following the miss, Sanfilippo pulled down the rebound and was fouled. She made both free throws to give the Spartans a 51-48 advantage, their first lead since the second quarter.

After Monrovia (9-6) closed the gap to 51-49 with 27 seconds left, Anderson was fouled on the inbounds pass and converted the free throws to stretch the advantage to four with 18 seconds remaining. Tia Chen's free throw with 7.7 seconds made it 54-49.

"All year long we made young mistakes, and they're a good team," Hill said. "We were fortunate enough to put a few in the hoop. We had to get this one in our house."

-- Royce Kirkland