Flintridge Prep girls’ basketball finds offense, way to finals with win over Village Christian

LA CAÑADA — Play that was at times sluggish and sloppy ended in ultimately beautiful fashion for the Flintridge Prep girls’ basketball team Saturday evening.

The host Rebels overcame a nine-point first quarter with a resurgent offense and an unrelenting defense to defeat Village Christian, 37-27, in the semifinals of the CIF Southern Section playoffs.

With the victory, fourth-seeded Prep League champion Flintridge Prep (19-4) overcame its semifinal obstacle in advancing to the program’s second-ever Southern Section championship appearance.

The Rebels will face Pac 8-League third-place finisher San Luis Obispo Mission Prep (21-8) in next weekend’s Division V-AA championship game at a time and place to be announced. Mission Prep took down Oxford Academy, 39-24, in Saturday’s other semifinal.

Saturday’s win coupled with Friday’s semifinal victory by the Flintridge Prep boys’ basketball team marks the first time in school history that both teams are heading to championship games in the same year.

“This is great. I just wanted this so badly for our seniors,” said Flintridge Prep co-Coach Kevin Kiyomura, who shares the position with Jayme Chan. “I wanted this for Natalie [Rozman] and Tala [Ismail] especially. They’ve been here for four years and we finally got to the championship.”

Rozman and Yoshida scored a team-high nine points each to pace the Rebels.

It appeared no quarter was more important than the third.

Flintridge Prep tied a season-low in points for a quarter by scoring only three in the second and trailed 16-9 at the break.

Yet, the Rebels pushed the pace in the third quarter and dominated the action, winning the period, 19-7, to take a 28-23 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.

“We’re weren’t playing really together and we weren’t talking in the first half,” said Yoshida, who was on Flintridge Prep’s team that was defeated by Ribet Academy, 46-39, in last year’s Division V-AA semifinals. “In the second half, we really picked up the communication and fed off our defense. The biggest thing for our offense was figuring out how to stop them and get points the other way.”

The Rebels immediately stormed out of the gate in the third with a 10-0 run that included a pair of three-pointers from Rozman (five rebounds). The spurt was capped on a jumper from Yoshida (three steals) with 4:04 left as the Rebels led, 19-16.

Olympic League champion Village Christian (22-8) pulled within 24-23 with 1:40 left in the third on a slashing bucket from Leslie Aguilar (game-high 10 points), but the Rebels closed with four straight points.

The four points were the kick-starter for a defining 9-0 run capped on a free throw from Yoshida with 3:42 left as the Rebels led, 33-23.

Even though Flintridge Prep’s offense had its struggles throughout the game, the Rebels defense was stout throughout as Village Christian scored nine points in the first, seven in the second and third quarters and four in the fourth.

Flintridge Prep opened the contest missing its first six field goals while committing three turnovers and falling behind, 9-1, at the two-minute mark after an offensive put back from 6-foot-4 center Mercy Odima.

The Rebels bounced back with a three-pointer from Rozman and a steal and layup from Yoshida to close down, 9-6, after one.

Village Christian then held the Rebels to three points in the second quarter, but only scored seven to trail, 16-9.

“This is surreal and really satisfying at the same time,” said Ismail, who tallied four points, five assists, five rebounds and two steals. “We’ve played hard my past four years to finally come to this moment and finally get past the semifinals. This feels better than I ever thought.”