Culver City High School’s Lady Centaurs basketball team blitzed tournament host El Segundo with 10 three-point shots and at times played tenacious defense to come away as the undefeated champions in El Segundo's third annual Winter Classic.
The Lady Centaurs won 70-46 win.
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High-scoring Kate Suyetsugu of Culver City, right, drives the ball upcourt against El Segundo’s Hannah Nonoguchi in title game. Photo, George Laase
Kate Suyetsugu had the hot hand in Culver’s victory, scoring 22 points. Kailey Tooke continued shooting well with 19 points.
Culver City (7-2) got through its pool play by beating Palos Verdes 51-35 as Tooke led the Centaurs with 14 points and Kelsey Ueda had nine. The Lady Centaurs then beat a tough Westminster team 73-60. Tooke scored 28 points, Lindsey Tanaka and Kelsey each had 11.
In the third round, Culver beat Lawndale 53-40. Once again Tooke lead with 16 points, Suyetsugu had 14 points and Ueda 11.
El Segundo (6-4) got to the finals by winning its pool, beating Venice 58-32, Hawthorne 60-44 and Archbishop Carney 45-12.
The Lady Centaurs started the final game lethargically as El Segundo ran off an 11-3 lead. Coach Julian Anderson called an early timeout to refocus the team’s efforts. He sent them back out to apply full-court pressure to try and get back into the game. The Ladies responded with an 11-0 run to end the first quarter leading 14-11. By halftime, they had extended their lead over the Eagles to 30-24.
The Centaurs held the lead steadily, controlling the tempo of the game with their defense. Just before the end of the third quarter, the Centaurs turned it up a notch and went on a 15-3 run. That extended their lead to 55-32.
El Segundo did not give up. Early in the fourth quarter they had cut the Centaurs’ lead almost in half with an 11-2 run. But the Centaurs answered with a 12-0 run of its own to put the game away and win by 24.
Katie Lin had 10 points in the win and Lindsey Tanaka put in nine. K Ueda had five and Gwen Machado added four points.
When asked if the team's display of tenacious defense and three-point sharpshooting was a preview of how the team would play this year, Coach Anderson replied, “Oh, I hope not. The defense was good. But it must get better and more consistent. I can't wait for our new transfer to arrive in January. She will give our team a much needed strong inside presence to balance out our outside shooting.”
Next week, the Lady Centaurs travel to Nevada for the Las Vegas Holiday Classic. El Segundo is also going to Las Vegas and is scheduled to play Culver City. The Centaurs can count on El Segundo looking for revenge.
The All-Tournament team:
1. Culver City – Kailey Tooke
2. El Segundo – Kayla Kigawa
3. Westminster – Chyan Pendergrass
4. Hawthorne – Kristina Brown
5. Palos Verdes – Whitney Pieper
6. Venice – Wendy Yoon
7. Lawndale – Danielle Hickman
8. Archbishop Carney – Daniella Mitchell
Mr. Laase may be contacted at GMLaase@aol.com
