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Blue-shirted Kelsey Ueda (bottom of the pile) and Lindsay Tanita, right, try to gain possession for Lady Centaurs. Photos, George Laase.
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Lady Centaurs’ Megan Yoon, right, drives around Aijeia Lloyd of Inglewood.
The Culver City High School girls basketball team will be seeking its 25th straight victory in the Ocean League when hosting Beverly Hills at 6 on Wednesday, which marks the halfway point in league play. On Friday, they play at Morningside at 6.
Undefeated Ocean League champions the past two years, Culver City had little trouble last Friday in beating Hawthorne, 62-22. Two days earlier, they traveled to Inglewood and won 68-58.
The Sentinels, Culver’s only competitive threat in the league, pushed the Lady Centaurs well into the fourth quarter. Culver even trailed for most of the game. But in the fourth quarter, Culver started pressuring the ball on defense. They turned on the offensive spigot and scored 26 points while holding the Sentinels to 10. By the end, the Lady Centaurs made it look easy as they pulled away.
During the first half, the Lady Centaurs played out of sync and fell behind 33-26 at the half. Coach Julian Anderson attributed this to the play of Inglewood. “Our defense let their point guard pick and choose what she wanted to do,” he said.
“Inglewood had too many offensive rebounds. They also executed their zone defense well.
“Players at this level think that if their opponents play a zone, that you have to shoot over it. If you shoot 10 three-pointers, odds are you are going to make four. But that means you will miss six.”
When questioned about letting the players go into the locker room alone for the first four minutes at halftime, Coach Anderson defended his strategy.
“I am a firm believer in letting the girls grow as players,” he said. “I don’t think any player wants to do badly. Sometimes if you step back and give the players a moment to themselves, they figure things out.”
The Lady Centaurs trailed Inglewood throughout the third quarter, down 48-42. But they were within striking distance.
When Michelle Curry, Culver’s physical senior center, got into foul trouble early in the fourth, it didn’t look good for the team.
“Coach (Mark) Kitabayashi talked to her about fundamentals,” said Anderson. “She wants to beat everybody with her athleticism. But nothing beats fundamentals.”
Kelsey Ueda and Curry both scored 18. Curry added two blocks, and she was a perfect 8 for 8 from the free throw line. Lindsey Tanita scored 14 points and had four assists. Katie Lin made eight points, Kailey Tooke had seven and Megan Yoon three.
After the game, Coach Kitabayashi expanded on his talk with Curry. “Michelle got a couple of silly fouls early on,” he said. “We told her that she has to adjust her play according to how the referees are calling the game. She did, and she was fine the last few minutes.”
With Curry back in the lineup, the Centaurs started pulling away.
Mr. Laase may be contacted at GMLaase@aol.com
