Poway girls basketball coach Jay Trousdale had a plan. And he stuck with it, even when his team fell behind by six points in the third period.

The plan: The fourth quarter would belong to his Titans.

Poway used perfect free-throw shooting (12-of-12) and a deep bench to outlast Bonita Vista 50-46 for the section Division I title last night at Cox Arena.

The top-seeded Titans (27-3) used 10 players. The second-seeded Barons (22-6) used only five, and the fatigue showed for Bonita Vista in the fourth period. Trailing 29-24 early in the third quarter, the Barons took off on an 11-0 run, six of the points coming from 5-foot-10 senior post player Danielle Boykin, who scored a game-high 22.

Then Bonita Vista began to run out of gas.

“The hope was in the fourth quarter that we could wear them down and make a run,” said Trousdale, who earned his fourth San Diego Section title in 20 years at Poway.

“We regularly use 10 or 11 kids a game and they're in good enough condition that we could make a run.”

The Titans trailed 35-29 at the end of BV's spurt and were behind 37-33 at the end of the third period. They didn't take the lead for good, 48-46, until 20.9 seconds remained on two free throws by Mariah Horvath.

“We just kept our composure like we always do,” said Horvath, one of five sophomores in Poway's regular rotation. “I was getting a little bit worried, but I knew my team could pull it out. We're like sisters, and that helps when it comes down to the wire.”

After Horvath's free throws, the Barons called a timeout then tried to get the ball to Barons point guard Elisa Magracia. Bonita Vista eventually turned it over, with Katie Kuklok getting the steal.

Kuklok, a freshman who scored a team-high 12 points, calmly sank both free throws with 3.7 seconds left to seal the victory. Kuklok entered the game on a hot streak, scoring 22, 15, 27 and 21 in her last four games. She had eight points in the first period, but the Barons went to a box-and-one defense, and she went without a shot for two periods.

“We really had to work hard to pull it out when we were down,” said Kuklok. “We stepped up and made our free throws.”

The Barons missed nine free throws, three of those the front end of one-and-ones.

“We usually go with eight players, but this is the playoffs so we cut back on the usual rotation, plus we've had a couple of injuries,” said Barons coach Wayne Wooten. “We missed a lot of free throws and layups.”

With Poway's young nucleus, the Titans could be back for more in the next couple of years.

“That's nice for the future, but it's nice for the seniors to win one before they got out of here,” said Trousdale, who lost senior Vannessa Williams to a knee injury five games ago. “We told them the day after she got hurt about how we were still going to pull this off.”

He had a plan for that, too.