On a night when the best and brightest girls’ basketball talents in the San Gabriel Valley came together in the 17th Tribune/Star-News All-Star Classic, Flintridge Prep’s Ashley Chea shined the brightest and led the Star-News team to a resounding 84-69 win over the Tribune team.
The Princeton signee finished with a game-high 22 points, six assists, and five steals, earning her player of the game honors for the Star-News team. Chea’s impressive all-around performance helped the Star-News team to an eighth all-time win, cutting the Tribune’s all-time series lead to 9-8.
“It was a great experience playing with all these players and against other really good seniors,” Chea said. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience where you get to play with a bunch of seniors who are also collectively great players.”
For the Tribune team, Northview forward Alana Diaz took the player of the game honors as she finished with a team-high 12 points, all of which came in the second half, and grabbed six rebounds — three of which were offensive rebounds.
Girls Final: Star-News 84, Tribune 69
Star-News MVP: Flintridge Prep’s Ashley Chea, 22 points, 5 steals
Tribune MVP: Northview’s Alana Diaz, 12 points pic.twitter.com/zRjsx7frFr— Fred J. Robledo 👨🏻💻 (@SGVNSports) March 26, 2023
Chea imposed her dominance from the start as she scored at all three levels, at the free-throw line and even played some impressive on-ball defense. In her first five minutes of play, she poured in seven points and recorded two steals and one block. Her impressive play gave the Star News a 12-3 lead with 15 minutes remaining in the first half.
The Tribune team’s second unit injected some much-needed offense as South Hills’ MaryJane Contreras scored six points off the bench to help stop the 9-0 Star-News run midway through the first half. Diamond Bar point guard Avril Ho also joined in on the scoring and added seven points of her own.
But, the Star-News’ prolific three-point shooting crushed any hope of a run and grew their lead to as big as 19 points in the first half. Four different players knocked down three-pointers for the Star-News team and Pasadena Poly’s Paige Lim hit two from beyond the arc in the first half and finished 5-of-8 from 3-point land for a total of 15 points.
The Star-News’ impressive three-point shooting gave them a 39-26 lead heading into halftime.
Diaz, who missed all three of her shots in the first half and finished the first half with zero points, scored six early points and helped cut the Star-News lead down to 11 points with 18:02 remaining in the second half. The San Gabriel Valley Tribune Player of the Year finished 3-of-3 second-half field goals and 6-of-7 free throws.
“I struggled a lot in the first half and there was a pretty big gap in the score,” Diaz said. “I knew I needed to help my team and the best way I knew how was by being more confident and aggressive than I was in the first half,” Diaz said.
La Salle’s Ellie Chen, who finished with 16 points, neutralized any gains the Tribune team made via Diaz’s scoring output as she scored seven points early in the second half. Chen’s 10 second-half points coupled with an impressive nine-point, three-minute stretch by Chea put the game well out of reach midway through the second half.
Savannah Salo scored all of her 11 points in the second half, but it was too little too late for the Tribune team.
Tribune/ Star-News All-Star Three-point shooting contest
La Salle’s Ellie Chen took home the Tribune/ Star-News All-Star three-point shooting crown during the halftime contest where she finished with 20 total points and hit the game-winning three-pointer on the final ball.
La Salle’s Ellie Chen is your 3pt champion! She hit 20 pts in the final round! @SGVNSports @SGVTribune @PasStarNews pic.twitter.com/qexH6bN5d1
— Jorge Ramos (@byjorgeramos) March 26, 2023
She defeated Walnut’s Jolleen Olia who scored 19 points in the final round of the contest, the highest score of the night before Chen’s 20-point total.
Chen also scored 18 points, a first-round high, to advance as the top seed. The two other finalists in the three-point shooting contests included Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy’s Sophia Heredia and Chen’s La Salle teammate Reese Wong.
🏀22pts and @SGVNSports ASG Player of the game honors for Princeton bound/Flintridge Prep 2023 Ashley Chea
Star News 84 Tribune 69 F pic.twitter.com/JsfgEoi1Ad— Matthew Kovach (@MattyK31) March 26, 2023
🏀La Cañada 2023 Mia Oakley-Stilson relocates off the bounce for the BLOB✌️
Star News 31 Tribune 12. 6+ pic.twitter.com/eiwMNj5Qp9— Matthew Kovach (@MattyK31) March 26, 2023
🏀South Hills 2023 Mary Jane Contreras finds glass for✌️➕️☝️
Star News 19 Tribune 10. 10+ pic.twitter.com/SmFNQvWcVk— Matthew Kovach (@MattyK31) March 26, 2023
1st Half| Miranda Morales for 3️⃣
Star News leads 33-19, 4:09 remaining. pic.twitter.com/mYet1LbpOc
— Jorge Ramos (@byjorgeramos) March 26, 2023
