It’s rare for a high school to have its boys’ and girls’ basketball teams win CIF Southern Section championships in the same season and St. Anthony has now done it twice.
Both Saints basketball teams won titles in 2000, and not only did they repeat the feat in February, they did it on the same day in back-to-back games hosted at Azusa Pacific University in front of a crowd full of purple and white support.
“This Saints nation, we’re a small little school with 500 people but we stick together, we show up and we show out,” St. Anthony boys’ basketball coach Alan Mitchell said of the passionate crowd support. “Purple reign.”
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The St. Anthony girls got the day started right with an impressive comeback against Moreno Valley in Division 2AA. The Vikings were up by nine with 11 minutes to play, but senior Ryann Bennett scored all 14 of her points in the second half to go with a game-high five assists during a game-winning run. It’s their first CIF-SS championship since 2016 when current coach Ray Bennett watched his daughter, Tayler, win the school’s third CIF title. Eight years later Bennett was able to celebrate with his Ryann while lifting a CIF plaque.
In the next game, the St. Anthony boys also got a heroic effort from a senior guard as Quincy Phillips led his team to a Division 2AA championship. He scored a game-high 20 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds in the win over Rolling Hills. It is the first CIF title for the program since 2000.
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