Taylor Morway is tall at 5-foot-11 and lean enough that it seems like a stiff breeze might topple her.
But she's plenty strong enough to lift a championship cup.
Summoning all her strength and will, the Branham senior scored 28 points to lead her team to a 49-46 victory Friday night against Santa Teresa (17-10).
The victory came in the Blossom Valley Athletic League-Mount Hamilton Division title game at Independence High.
"It feels awesome," Morway said, moments after cradling the championship trophy. "The year before I got here we lost every game, so to get here from there is amazing."
Branham (21-6) went 0-19 five years ago, one year before Morway entered high school and before coach Sam Hernandez took over the program.
But Santa Teresa didn't go down easily. The Saints made nine 3-pointers in the game, including a three by Cassidy Sanders-Curry with 37 seconds left that brought her team to within three points.
"It was a huge concern," Hernandez said of the Saints' outside shooting. "We needed to stop those threes. We needed to get out on them."
Said Santa Teresa coach Sean Peterson: "Those threes kept us in the game. And when we're scoring inside, it really opens up our outside game."
Branham missed a free throw with 26 seconds left, giving Santa Teresa a few more chances, but an off-balance three-point attempt by Sanders-Curry and a desperation heave from beyond the arc by Alyssa Hirasawa at the buzzer both missed the mark and the Bruins held on.
"This is huge for the girls," Hernandez said. "Especially when you think how far we've come the last 3-4 years."
Morway was the catalyst. Following a 16-point first half during which she aggravated an ankle injury, she hung in there and scored six points in the third quarter and six more in the fourth, including making four of six from the free throw line.
"Taylor is slight, but she's very agile and quick," Hernandez said. "She has the quickness to get to the basket or the height to post up and score inside."
Added Morway: "I was thinking that this is my last year and I wanted it. But it was a team effort. We achieved everything that we've been working for all of this time."
Sanders-Curry led Santa Teresa with 13 points and Gabby Whetstone added 10.
Both teams now will await the results of Sunday's seeding meeting before advancing to the Central Coast Section playoffs.
*****
John Murphy can be reached at jmurphy@Prep2Prep.com.
