Flintridge Prep girls’ basketball staves off second-round upset

OXNARD — Things looked bleak for the fourth-seeded Flintridge Prep girls’ basketball team on the road Saturday night.

Seemingly on the wrong end of an impending upset, the Rebels instead rallied.

Flintridge Prep came from behind to pull out a 56-51 victory over Oxnard Pacifica in a CIF Southern Section Division 3-A second-round playoff game.

Flintridge Prep (22-5) trailed, 27-23, at halftime as the Rebels committed 17 turnovers in the half and their deficit grew to 12 points in the third quarter before a 14-2 run tied it all up as part of a fourth quarter won by the Rebels, 18-7, to take the game and move on to the quarterfinals.

The Rebels will host Cerritos, a 43-29 winner Saturday over Hemet, in Wednesday’s quarterfinal.

Sophomore guard Kaitlyn Chen kept the Rebels close as she finished with 28 points on 11 for 16 shooting from the floor and was six for six from the foul line. She added six rebounds, four assists and two blocks.

“Their defense took us out of it in the first half since we were a little apprehensive,” Rebels co-coach Kevin Kiyomura said. “We started setting screens and got out in transition to get us back in it.”

The Rebels, the Prep League champions, trailed 42-30 with 3:10 left in the third quarter before going on a 14-2 run and tying the game at 44 with 5:33 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

Madison Manning scored eight points and corralled nine rebounds for the Rebels and Sofia Gonzalez added eight points and six rebounds. Andie Kim made two free throws with 15 seconds left to make it a two-possession game and blocked a three-point attempt with seven seconds left to seal the victory.

Geraldine Balajadia scored 14 points and made four three-pointers to lead Pacifica (13-9), the second-place team from the Pacific View League. Leslie Salazar chipped in with six points and 14 rebounds.