Flintridge Prep girls’ basketball continues to impress in summer
LA CAÑADA — With the basketball season still months away from tipping off, the Flintridge Prep and Mayfield Senior School squads met in Thursday afternoon’s summer league with different goals.
The unusually deep Rebels had an array of issues to work on, while the Prep League-rival Cubs hoped to begin a new era with a sense of camaraderie and an emphasis on learning.
Flintridge Prep used its size to wear down visiting Mayfield in a 53-27 victory for the Rebels, who have taken apart most of the opponents they’ve face in summer action.
Part of the Rebels’ strength lies in their numbers, as Flintridge Prep had a pool of 18 players to work with. However, that roster size is deceiving, contended Rebels co-Coach Jayme Chan.
“We might look big, but we’re combining junior varsity and varsity out there,” Chan said. “So, when our season gets going, we’re only going to have about 11 players on varsity and seven or eight on junior varsity. We’re still hoping to get a couple more out before the year begins.”
Though Flintridge Prep graduated Prep League Most Valuable Player Tala Ismail, there won’t be a dearth of talent or leadership.
Chan and co-coach Kevin Kiyomura split up perhaps the team’s two biggest senior returners in Renae Tamura and Taylor Yoshida, who both scored 12 points.
Tamura started the contest and played with the first-teamers, while Yoshida (four assists and three steals) led an almost equally successful second unit.
“Our leaders are our captains Taylor and Renae,” Kiyomura said. “They’re doing a good job because the camaraderie was already pretty good, but they’ve taken it as their mission to get everyone on this team involved.”
Though Mayfield only fielded eight players, the Cubs hung tough early with the Rebels and were tied at 8 with 9:30 remaining before the Rebels closed out the first half with a run.
Flintridge Prep responded with a 10-2 spurt aided by four points from Tamura to take an 18-10 advantage into the break.
While Tamura and Yoshida are known commodities, the Rebels also received a strong effort from newcomer Kaitlyn Chen, who added 12 points and nine rebounds.
As for what exactly Flintridge Prep was focusing on this summer, whether that be team work, conditioning or something else, Chan had a simple answer.
“Yes,” she quipped. “This is a great group and the camaraderie is really there. We have six freshmen and they’ve blended in nicely.
“As for conditioning, it’s important – don’t get me wrong – but a lot of these girls are going to play volleyball or some other sport and so the conditioning won’t be there when we get back together in the fall. Now that I wish you could bottle up and open later in the year.”
Mayfield Coach Kevin Yamamoto and his Cubs are just beginning the post Megan Villar-era as the school graduated its 1,000-point scorer this spring.
“To be honest, we’re in rebuilding mode,” Yamamoto said. “Right now, I want to work on our cohesion and I really want the team to understand what it’s doing on the court.”
In the second half, the Cubs never closed the deficit to less than seven points. A 22-15 score ballooned via a 13-2 run that spanned just over 10 minutes and put the Rebels ahead, 35-17, with a little over six minutes remaining.
“We have some young players who worked very hard, but they had trouble following directions,” Yamamoto said. “Our defense was almost non-existent in that second half and that’s what we’re going to focus on going forward.”
