The San Pedro High girls basketball team has had a marvelous run in 2014-2015, making history seemingly with every victory they accumulate.

This past Saturday took a dangerous turn with a CIF-Los Angeles City Section Division II semifinal loss to Eagle Rock that derailed their hopes for a City title, and demoralized their pride, although for just a brief moment, but coming back home Tuesday for a CIF State Playoff play-in game against the other semifinal loser, a team the Lady Pirates are familiar with, it gave San Pedro a chance to redeem themselves two-fold.

A year ago, San Pedro lost 47-35 to the Spartans at home in the first round of the CIF-LACS Division III playoffs, but there would be no such heartbreak this time around, as the Lady Pirates avenged that defeat with a 51-38 victory to seal up a spot in the CIF Southern California Division II regional playoffs for the first time in school history.

"This is such an amazing feeling," San Pedro sophomore guard Deanna Valverde said. "We made history!"

Valverde played a big part of making history for San Pedro (21-11 overall), by playing lock-down defense on Huntington Park guard Desiree Garcia, who made four three-pointers in the first two quarters. After a timeout, San Pedro coach Cynthia Atencio made the assignment in putting Valverde on Garcia, and she never hit another downtown shot for the rest of the night. Garcia finished with a team-high 14 points.

"I mean, she's a good player, but my coach gave me a responsibility," said Valverde, who had 7 points, 6 assists, 8 rebounds and 4 steals for San Pedro. "My goal was to stop her and of course I'm going to try my hardest and do so."

Two other players for San Pedro that made sure of their place in history was secure was senior guard Rita Fiorenza and sophomore forward Iman Garba, as Fiorenza scored a game-high 16 points to go with 4 assists and 3 steals, while Garba scored 11 points to go along with 12 rebounds. Garba was plenty active defensively with two blocks, knocking passes out of bounds and being a pest on defense.

Junior forwards Reyna Canchola and Melannie Ortiz also played effective down the stretch as San Pedro pulled away in the second half to eliminate the Spartans (18-11).

"We all worked together a lot better this game," Fiorenza said in comparison to last year's loss. "We wanted revenge on this team for losing to them, and we came into this game with more confidence."

Unlike the loss to Eagle Rock, San Pedro's passing was much more secure as Ortiz, Fiorenza and Garba were able to get easy layups in the first quarter, Valverde had four assists in the first half as San Pedro took a 25-20 lead at halftime, and got its first double-digit lead in the fourth quarter. Fiorenza's three-pointer with under two minutes left gave the Pirates their biggest lead at 51-36.

"We had to pick up the tempo and we did," Fiorenza said of the fourth quarter surge by San Pedro. "We played smart after that by running the clock."

And with that, San Pedro, already with a school record for wins after placing third in the killer Marine League, will be running all the way to their first-ever CIF State Playoff berth since the 1986 team that last won a City Section championship.

"It feels beyond amazing to be making history with this team," said Fiorenza, the team's lone four-year starter.