Harvard-Westlake girls basketball downs Notre Dame, returns to CIF State final for first time since 2010

Valentina Guerrero scored a game-high 15 points in just 12 minutes of action to lead Harvard-Westlake to its first CIF State finals appearance since 2010

Tarek Fattal | Mar 5, 2024

STUDIO CITY - Harvard-Westlake sophomore Valentina Guerrero made every minute count.

The 6-foot-2 center has been out of action for a month due to a broken nose. Her first day back was Monday, which prompted a minutes restriction of just three minutes per quarter.

Guerrero, who played Tuesday night's game in a face mask, scored a game-high 15 points and notched five rebounds in the Wolverines' 50-38 home victory over Notre Dame/Sherman Oaks in the CIF State Division II SoCal regional final.

"She'll have to wear it for the rest of the playoffs," Guerrero's mother said. "She's never worn anything like that before. We were worried, but she played great."

Harvard-Westlake will advance to play in the CIF State Division II final on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. It's the program's first state final appearance since 2010 and third in program history.

Harvard-Westlake coach Melissa Hearlihy notched career win 838.

Deana Thompson added 10 points and six rebounds for the Wolverines. Notre Dame's Amia Witt and Natalie Villamor each had 12 points.

Harvard-Westlake started one senior, one junior, one sophomore and two freshmen in Angelina Habis (9 points) and Oyinkan Iriafen (9 rebounds).

Notre Dame finished the season 22-14 under first-year coach Jenna Laolagi.

BONUS COVERAGE

Angelina Habis 3ball. GOOD.

Harvard-Westlake 33, Notre Dame 24. 2:38, 3Q pic.twitter.com/0I75nLaSdn
— Tarek Fattal (@Tarek_Fattal) March 6, 2024

The next Iriafen.

This is Harvard-Westlake freshman Oyinkan Iriafen, younger sister of @kikiiriafen, who was a McDonald’s All-American at HW 2021, and now a standout for Stanford.

Oyinkan worked her way from JV to starting on varsity. pic.twitter.com/s8t57ckYbj
— Tarek Fattal (@Tarek_Fattal) March 6, 2024

Published Mar 5, 2024

TAREK FATTAL

Tarek Fattal has been covering high school sports since 2015 in Southern California and primarily in Los Angeles, covering notable athletes such as Bronny James, Kayvon Thibodeaux and Alyssa Thompson. He was with the LA Daily News for eight years, which included being the beat reporter for the UCLA men's basketball team. Tarek can be seen on TV regularly on CBS/KCAL as a sports analyst with Jim Hill.