La Cañada High girls’ basketball is no match for South Pasadena

SOUTH PASADENA — Whether it was scoring depth or turnovers, the South Pasadena High girls’ basketball team owned virtually every phase of Friday afternoon’s Rio Hondo League showdown with rival La Cañada.

After Friday, the reigning co-league champion Tigers also owned another decided advantage — they’re a leg up on the co-league champion Spartans in the chase for the league title.

That’s because South Pasadena came on scorching hot and never relented against visiting La Cañada, which at times looked overwhelmed in a 77-38 defeat.

“They were, they were,” La Cañada first-year Coach Jett del Mundo II said when asked if the Tigers were a step quicker than his Spartans. “I believe the better team tonight won the game. They came out and wanted it more and when you come out flat like we did, you spend a lot of energy just having to come back.”

Overall, the Spartans (11-6 overall, 1-1 in league) committed 25 turnovers, while the Tigers (13-1, 2-0) only had nine such turnovers.

South Pasadena also had four scorers in double figures, led by senior Lexie Scholtz, who scored a game-high 23 points, seven steals and six rebounds.

Only La Cañada sophomore Zoe Williams – who tallied 10 points and eight rebounds off the bench – could claim that honor for her side.

Seven of La Cañada’s turnovers came in a particularly devastating first quarter, as the Tigers led, 23-5, after eight minutes.

South Pasadena opened with the game’s first eight points, with the last of those buckets being a four-footer from junior Kristen Kafkaloff (22 points) that was set up on a steal and assist from Elise Takahama (12 points).

La Cañada finally got on the board at 4:37 in the first on a Williams’ two-footer off an assist from Marie Weston.

The La Cañada bucket proved to be only a small speed bump for the Tigers, who scored the next 10 points in going up, 18-2, capped on a bucket from Scholtz created off a steal from senior center Sophia Hathaway (14 points and 16 rebounds) with 2:24 remaining.

South Pasadena eventually took its 18-point advantage to close the first quarter on a pair of free throws from Scholtz with 44 seconds left.

“I wasn’t really that impressed with our start,” South Pasadena Coach Tammy Lai said. “We’ve had a few slow starts over our last few games and I thought we played more like the way we’ve supposed to have been playing.

“I have a group that has been playing together for the last four years and that’s an advantage against most teams.”

La Cañada’s 18-point deficit was never erased, although the Spartans scored the first four points of the second quarter from Haley Miller and Amber Graves to climb within 14 points.

While South Pasadena’s lead volleyed between 12 and 19 points in the second quarter, the Spartans received a three-pointer from Stephanie Musso before the half to trail, 33-20, at the break.

The momentum created from that surge, however, dissipated for the Spartans midway through the third.

While La Cañada pulled to within 35-24 on a two-footer from Graves, South Pasadena scored the next six points and never allowed the Spartans to climb any closer than 14 points.

In fact, South Pasadena scored 14 of the quarter’s final 20 points in taking a 55-33 advantage into the fourth quarter.