State run doesn’t get going for Flintridge Prep girls’ basketball
LA CAÑADA — A superb season came to an end Wednesday night for the Flintridge Prep girls’ basketball team.
Having already exceeded its expectations, which included an appearance in a CIF Southern Section championship game for the second time in three seasons, Flintridge Prep began the last leg of its season Wednesday in an opening-round game of the CIF State Division III Tournament.
Its state run was cut short, as eighth-seeded Flintridge Prep committed 26 turnovers and suffered a 78-55 loss against ninth-seeded Mater Dei Catholic at St. Francis High.
“The season was a definite surprise, a very pleasant surprise,” said Flintridge Prep co-coach Jayme Kiyomura Chan, who shares the coaching chores with Kevin Kiyomura. “We had a lot of goals and we met them, so it’s definitely a step heading in the right direction in terms of the program’s future.
“We went undefeated in winning the Prep League and we wanted to at least get to the second round of CIF. We defeated the top team in CIF and we got to the championship game. There’s so much to be proud of.”
Flintridge Prep fell to Beverly Hills in the CIF Southern Section Division III-A championship contest on Saturday at Colony High in Ontario.
Flintridge Prep (24-8) looked to get back on track against Mater Dei Catholic (20-13). Instead, Flintridge Prep had difficulty generating offense against talented Mater Dei, which lost in the San Diego Section Division I title contest.
The Crusaders received impressive performances from Chloe Webb and Marissa Sanchez. Webb finished with a game-high 28 points and 16 rebounds and Sanchez added 23 points and four steals.
“They have a very good team and those players really stepped up,” Kiyomura Chan said. “We just didn’t have an answer and we kept turning the ball over. The deficit went from 10 points to 20 points and more.”
Flintridge Prep got a team-high 24 points from Kaitlyn Chen and 10 points from Andie Kim. The Rebels got nine points from Alex Kyriakakis and nine rebounds from Emma Stellar.
“They could shoot the ball real well,” said Chen, who had 15 points in the first half. “That made it hard and we just couldn’t get on track.”
A basket by Chen gave the Rebels a 10-8 lead with 5:45 left in the first quarter. It was the last lead for the Rebels, who saw the Crusaders build a 31-15 lead after the opening quarter. Sanchez made a three-pointer as time expired in the quarter.
Sanchez made a three-pointer to extend the lead to 46-27 with 1:22 left in the second quarter.
Webb had 14 second-half points, including a layup to make it 61-37 with a minute to go in the third quarter.
“We had a great season and we got some more good experience,” Chen said. “We’ll have a lot of people coming back and we’ll look to pick it up from here.”
Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich
