SIERRA MADRE -- In a highly anticipated rematch between the San Gabriel Valley's top two heavyweights in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 girls basketball playoffs, La Salle showed again why it is the top ranked team in the SGV.
La Salle (22-6), who played without star forward Casey Higgins due to an injury at practice, was still too good, beating SGV No. 2 Flintridge Prep 48-33 for the second time this season. La Salle also beat Flintridge Prep (19-2) during the Glendora tournament in December, handing the Wolves their only two losses of the season.
La Salle will host Chaminade, a 52-45 winner over Claremont, in Saturday's second round.
The Lancers got a big contribution from freshman Aislin Tamez Torres who finished with 11 points and seven rebounds.
"She's really mature for a freshman," La Salle coach Scott Wiard said. "Obviously game 28, we don't think of her as a freshman anymore, but yeah big time performance. She's got such a great basketball IQ, so we trust her to do so many different things."
The Wiard name is synonymous with girls basketball postseason success. For many years, Richard Wiard, who is Scott's father and his assistant coach, dominated at Bishop Amat, winning over 450 games and including five CIF championships and two state championships.
Scott is building his own legacy at La Salle, leading the Lancers to a berth in the Division 1 playoffs for the second year in a row after capturing back-to-back CIF-SS titles in in 2022 and '23 in Division 3AA and 2AA respectively.
"I've been blessed to be around a lot of really good players and really good teams," Scott Wiard said. "Not only in my eight years as head coach, but being around my dad's teams. You feel a little bit more confident going to the playoffs because you've done it a few more times."
La Salle forward Riley Higgins filled in admirably for her sister Casey, finishing with nine points and six rebounds and being a dominant presence in the post.
"It was tough playing without her [Casey], because she's our main player of getting rebounds, scoring layups, and going to the basket," Riley Higgins said. "But we stepped up because we had to play without her."
After narrowly dropping their first matchup 54-44 to the Lancers on Dec. 28, Flintridge Prep blew by the Prep League and came into the playoffs on a nine-game winning streak.
Flintridge Prep co-head coach Kevin Kiyomura knew the challenge that lay ahead for the Wolves.
"Playing in Division 1, we knew it was going to be tough and we just played our hearts out and that's it," Kiyomura said.
Flintridge Prep's Maddie Smith scored her team's first eight points while finishing with a game-high 21 points. She was 7-of-14 from the field.
The Lancers held Flintridge Prep to just 13 points at halftime. La Salle broke the game open in the third quarter, jumping to a 14-point lead.
Flintridge Prep made a late run, cutting the deficit to eight points with five minutes left.