Flintridge Sacred Heart basketball takes city rivalry tilt versus Flintridge Prep

LA CAÑADA — Though not in the same league or division, city pride was still on the line when the Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy and Flintridge Prep girls’ basketball teams met in nonleague play.

Thanks to a strong fourth quarter, the Tologs picked up their first victory against the Rebels since the 2011-12 season, 61-51, on Thursday evening.

“We’ve been rivals forever, so this was a real nice win,” Tologs senior guard Jenna Tran said. “It’s great that the seniors got them.”

Tran and Kelly Fradet led the Tologs with 21 points each in what was supposed to be a match-up of stars versus Flintridge Prep’s Tala Ismail.

Yet, Ismail missed Thursday’s contest with a sprained ACL and isn’t expected back until January, according to Rebels co-Coach Kevin Kiyomura.

Despite that big hole in the middle, the Rebels only trailed, 40-37, with 7:04 left in the game after a three-pointer from junior guard Renae Tamura, who led her squad with 18 points and nine rebounds.

Just as the Rebels (5-3) attempted to wrestle away momentum from Flintridge Sacred Heart (6-1), Tran and the Tologs responded.

Tran was fouled on an offensive rebound, made two free throws and then assisted Fradet on a three-pointer with 6:20 left that put the Tologs ahead, 45-37.

While Flintridge Prep countered with a three-pointer from Natalie Rozman, Tran came right back down court and buried her own triple.

After a Rebels’ free throw, Tran hit a turnaround jumper followed by a draining two more free throws to put her side up, 52-41, with 2:21 left. Flintridge Prep never pulled closer than eight points the rest of the game.

“It just wasn’t about making shots, but about playing defense,” said Flintridge Sacred Heart assistant Wesley Stewart, a former head coach at Pasadena High who was filling in for head coach Ty Buxman, who’s on a sabbatical. “I told the girls at the half, the only way we’re going to win is to play defense.

“Prep is a great team and we didn’t help by shooting poorly in the first half.”

The Tologs led, 19-14, at the six-minute mark in the second quarter before Flintridge Prep rallied. The Rebels concluded the half with a 16-7 run fueled by four points and three assists from junior guard Taylor Yoshida (17 points, four assists and four steals) to go up, 30-26, at the break.

The score could have been worse given that the Rebels won the first-half foul contest, 12-4, but only made nine of 16 free-throw attempts (56%).

“Without Tala, we’re playing four freshmen and I really like the camaraderie they’re building,” said Kiyomura, who coaches the squad with Jayme Chan. “We’re working on sharing the basketball and being there for each other and this was a learning experience.”

Despite being up, 30-26, at the break, the contest turned for the Rebels when the Tologs embarked on a 12-0 run to start the third quarter.

The spurt was capped on a jumper from Camilla Homans (14 points and seven rebounds) with 2:14 left to give Flintridge Sacred Heart a 38-30 lead.

The Rebels scored their first point of the quarter on a free throw from Tamura with 58 seconds left before the guard closed out the quarter with a three-pointer.

“Flintridge Prep is a good team and this is a meaningful win for us,” Stewart said. “It may not count for league, but it counts a lot for this team.”