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Katie Lin of Centaurs finishes a fast break in last night’s 29th straight Ocean League win.
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Culver City girls’ basketball coach Julian Anderson maps defensive strategy with assistant Mark Kitabayashi at his shoulder in last night’s 48-40 win over Hawthorne. Photos, George Laase.
The atmosphere in the Del Goodyear Gymnasium on the Culver City High School campus last Friday was similar to the CIF playoffs.
The crowd was loud. The players were intense. And some coaches seemed out of control during Culver City’s 48-40 victory over Inglewood.
Luckily it was the Inglewood coaches. At one point the head coach engaged one of his assistants in an argument, and late in the game, he drew a technical foul.
Culver City Coach Julian Anderson and his assistants kept their composure during the tense game.
The Centaurs are 8-0 in the Ocean League and 21-4 overall. and 8-0 in the Ocean League.
They travel to Beverly Hills tomorrow for a 6 o’clock game that is the regular season finale. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. for both games.
By the end of the week, Culver City should be 10-0 in league and 23-4 overall.
The CIF playoff bracket will be announced on Sunday.
“Inglewood has played us tough all year,” said Anderson after the Friday night victory. “One of their better players was missing, and still they did a great job.”
Culver City and Inglewood had split two previous games.
Michelle Curry’s 24 points led Culver City and Katie Lin scored 11.
“Offensively Michelle was a monster in the paint,” said Anderson, “but her defense needs to get better.
“She also needs to stay out of foul trouble.”
Culver City uses an eight- and sometimes nine-girl rotation. This is a tremendous advantage at the end of games. At one point in the second half Anderson had his three best players on the bench and Culver City continued to lead. “We have a good team,” said the coach, “and we are a lot deeper than I thought we would be.”
Kelsey Ueda, Kate Suyetsugu, Lindsey Tanita, Kaily Tooke, Megan Yoon, Gwendolyn Machado, Curry and Lin keep Culver City in position to play with energy without letup.
The mark of good team is not being satisfied even after a win, said Anderson. “We were not focused in the beginning of the game but coach pulled us together,” said Lin. “He told us we were not playing Culver City basketball. We played better in the second half.”
Centaur basketball is playing quick and smart. They have the players and the coach to go deep into the CIF playoffs but they still need to improve on shotmaking in the fourth quarter and rebounding.
The crowd on Friday night helped put the Centaur girls in the right frame of mind. “A big crowd like that will help us get ready for the CIF playoffs,” said Ueda. “We all have to be on the same page and communicate more. We need to keep our composure and stay confident.”
Mr. Finley may be contacted at sfinley50@aol.com
