Girls’ basketball: Monarchs win third straight title

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Nirra Fields showed why she is headed for UCLA next season. The senior guard scored 24 points and dished out six assists to lead Santa Ana Mater Dei to the CIF Division I state championship with a convincing 57-40 victory over Northern California powerhouse Berkeley.

It was the second consecutive Division I state crown and third straight state title for Mater Dei (34-3), which closed the season winning its final 13 games--all of them by double digits. The Monarchs beat Berkeley 59-47 last year but from the second quarter on this victory felt even more decisive.

‘I never had it in my mind that we had them,’ said Fields, a transfer from Canada who was at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia last year. ‘It’s the state championships, so no lead is big enough. I’m so happy. It’s an unexplainable feeling.’

Alexas Williamson had 16 points and USC signee Jordan Adams added 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Monarchs (34-3), who held the Yellowjackets’ Arizona State-bound point guard Elisha Davis to 10 points.

-- Steve Galluzzo