Flintridge Prep girls’ basketball stuns top seed to reach finals
CYPRESS – Thanks to a steely defense, a little bit of faith and a whole lot of sophomore guard Kaitlyn Chen, the Flintridge Prep girls’ basketball team is heading to its second CIF Southern Section Championship game in three seasons.
The fourth-seeded Rebels rallied from a 13-point deficit to upset top-seeded host Cypress Oxford Academy, 45-40, in Saturday’s Division III-A semifinal contest.
The triumph punched the ticket for the Prep League champion Rebels (25-5) into the Division III-A final on Friday or Saturday at a site to be designated by the CIF-SS office.
Flintridge Prep will face No. 2 seed Ocean League co-champion Beverly Hills (23-5).
“We’ve already exceeded all our expectations this season, so this is all really unbelievable,” Flintridge Prep co-coach Kevin Kiyomura. “We stuck to a game plan that we had in the first half and it was tough when Oxford was just knocking down threes, but we knew they couldn’t do that all night.”
Chen finished with a game-high 20 points, 19 coming in the second half, 11 rebounds and four assists, while Rebels freshman guard Sofia Gonzalez added nine points and Alex Kyriakakis contributed seven points, nine rebounds and two blocks.
Junior center Austyn Masuno paced Oxford Academy (27-2), which saw its 16-game winning streak snapped, with 13 points and six rebounds, while junior guard Angie Gagnon added nine points and three steals.
Flintridge Prep’s four-point lead was trimmed to 42-40 on a four-footer from the 6-foot-2 Masuno with 1:13 left.
After the Rebels missed on a runner the other way, the Patriots tried to go inside to Masuno, but were denied and settled for a missed three-pointer that was rebounded by Flintridge Prep junior Madison Manning.
While Kiyomura was screaming for a timeout, two Patriots tied up Manning and forced a jump ball possession back to Oxford Academy with 28.7 seconds left.
This time, the Patriots went inside to Masuno, who couldn’t push around Manning. Masuno finally attempted a six-foot shot that hit the bottom of the rim and was rebounded by the Rebels.
Chen raced upcourt, was fouled with 16.4 seconds left and sank two free throws to ice the game for Flintridge Prep, which added one more free from Andie Kim.
“Oxford’s whole offense was basically getting the ball to [Masuno],” said Manning, a member of Flintridge Prep’s Division V-AA championship 2015-16 squad, who added four points and six rebounds. “We just wanted to shut her down and we wanted to stick to her the whole time and not give her any breathing room.”
Flintridge Prep’s defensive strategy of letting Oxford Academy shoot from the perimeter and beyond was nearly fatal.
The Patriots scored the last five points of the first quarter to lead, 22-12, and went up, 28-15, at the three-minute mark in the second quarter on a three-pointer from Angie Choi.
Though the Rebels won the second quarter, 9-8, they still trailed, 30-21, after a first half in which Oxford Academy hit six three-pointers and forced nine turnovers, while committing four.
Chen, who had scored one point in a tough first half, exploded for all 13 for her team’s points in the third quarter as the Rebels won the frame, 13-5, and were only down, 35-34, after three.
“I just wanted to get myself into the game,” Chen said. “The rest of the girls were doing so much and I’m so proud of them. I just wanted to do my part.”
Flintridge Prep took its first lead, 36-35, after two free throws from Kyriakakis, which elicited a round of high-fives from co-coach Jayme Chan on the bench, with 6:20 in the fourth.
Oxford Academy ended up scoring only 18 points after the first quarter, while the Patriots only hit one three in the second half.
“I’m telling you, it was so hard to watch them hit those threes,” Chan said. “We just still believed that our game plan would still give us the best possible chance to win. We packed it in the paint and just wanted to make someone else beat us. It paid off at the end.”
