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Megan Yoon drives against Chaminade. Photo, George Laase.
If a championship is the mark of an outstanding season, Culver City High School’s girls basketball team (31-5) accomplished that by winning the CIF 2AA division. The state title would have been icing. The Lady Centaurs will take the less fattening choice, cake without icing.
The Chaminade team that knocked out Culver City by 30 points in the state semifinals last week, won the state last Saturday night, scrubbing West Torrance, 67-50.
“We accomplished so much this season,” said Coach Julian Anderson.
The Lady Centaurs broke records, won the girls first CIF championship since 1979, went 10-0 in the Ocean League for the third year in a row and defeated seven consecutive opponents before falling to the West Hills private school.
Culver City could not keep up with Chaminade for a few reasons. Chaminade had four girls over 6 feet tall and Culver City had none. Their tallest starter is 5’9 center Micelle Curry and their tallest player is 5’11 backup center Gwen Machado. Oh, and the Lady Centaurs missed a load of free throws in the first half.
“Chaminade just pounded away at us,” said Coach Anderson. “They wore us down.
“It was like a boxing match. We traded punches in the first half but in the second they gave us the knockout punch. Their height forced us to alter our shots.”
Chaminade’s best player, 6-foot-3 Devin Stanback said that “we knew Culver City was good, that we could not underestimate them.
“But we had a height advantage so we focused on boxing them out and rebounding.”
Culver City was led by team captain Kelsey Ueda who scored 15, Curry had 12 and Katie Lin scored seven points.
“An amazing season,” said Ueda, a senior. “I am so proud. We could not have asked for better teammates. The chemistry was great.”
In the last minutes, Ueda was cheering on her teammates even though the game was out of reach.
“Coach Julian taught us to never give up,” she said. “That’s why we kept fighting.
“If we lose by a lot or by a little it still takes its’ toll on you.”
Kailey Tooke, Curry, Kate Suyetsugu, Ueda, Megan Yoon, Lindsey Tanita, Machado, Kelli Tadermaru, Alexis Aquino, Lin and Alexis Arancibia, coaches Anderson, Mark Kitabayashi, Tom Nakayama, team manager Megam Montez, student trainers Cynthia Herrera and Jocelyn Torres, athletic trainer Marcos White, athletic director Tom Salter will remember this season for decades.
Coach Anderson placed the year in perspective. He shrugged off a question about next year’s team. “I want to enjoy this season for a minute,” he said, “and then I want to go to Disneyland.”
Mr. Finley may be contacted at sfinley@aol.com
