Being a sword with two edges, success makes some teams and breaks others. Culver City High School’s girls basketball team is expected to reach the championship game in the CIF 2AA playoffs, and their start last week made a good impression.
Although the Lady Centaurs are seventh seeded, they are a 25-4 and have gone undefeated in winning three consecutive Ocean League championships.
After defeating Elsinore, 74-47, last Saturday night, the Lady Centaurs travel to Rialto on Wednesday evening at 7 to face Eisenhower, 21-5 after going 8-2 in the Citrus Belt League.
Culver fans expect greatness every game.
“A lot of people want to know how much we are going to win by,” said Coach Julian Anderson. “They don’t realize every game is a challenge. It’s not that easy when you have a target on your back.”
The 27-point margin just encouraged the optimists.
“I thought Elsinore was a good team,” said Anderson. “The key was that we took them out of their game plan early. Our players were focused. It’s a team game. You have to get more than the five starters on the same page. Against Elsinore, “we had nine players ready to play.”
Culver City was led by Michelle Curry’s 23, Lindsey Tanita had 11, Kelsey Ueda scored nine, Katie Lin had eight and Kate Suyetsugu scored eight points.
“We could tell before the game that we had the right mindset,” said team captain Ueda. “We played well at the start, and we finished playing well. But we also need to take it one game at a time.”
Ueda, a senior likes the pressure of being on a good team. She has played on three Ocean League championship teams that have won 30 league games in a row, and her team reached the state regionals last year. “It makes me feel good about taking the challenge of being a good team,” Ueda said. “If we play hard and smart, we can go far.”
Ueda is the team leader when it comes to intensity, but Curry is the leading scorer and rebounder. “We executed well,” said Curry. “We did everything we were supposed to do, and we played pretty good defense.”
One of Curry’s few weaknesses is getting into foul trouble. “If I stay focused, I can stay out of foul trouble,” said Curry. “We have good team chemistry. When we play with intensity, we are hard to beat.”
Mr. Finley may be contacted at sfinley50@aol.com
