No. 2 Flintridge Prep girls’ basketball upended by La Salle
LA CAÑADA — Faced with an opponent it had defeated in its first game of the season and owning a fourth-quarter lead, Flintridge Prep’s girls’ basketball team had all signs pointing toward another trip to the semifinals for the fourth time in five seasons.
Alas, for the second-seeded Rebels, there would be no return to the semifinals, no title follow-up a season removed from winning the CIF Southern Section Division V-AA championship, as the the La Salle team that Flintridge Prep defeated in its first game of the season proved to be the team that would deliver the Rebels their last game of the season.
Julia Mucabuhay scored 16 of her game-high 37 points in the fourth quarter to power La Salle to a 68-61 upset of Flintridge Prep on Wednesday night in the Division III-A quarterfinals.
“Julia was able to get to her spots and she got comfortable [in making the big shots],” said Flintridge Prep co-Coach Kevin Kiyomura, who splits the coaching chores with Jayme Chan. “After the first half, we told our team that we didn’t have our ‘A’ game, but we still had the lead going into the fourth quarter.
“You have to hand it to La Salle, They were prepared. They had the team speed and we couldn’t get it going.”
Flintridge Prep (24-3), which had a double-digit lead at one point in the third quarter, held a 47-46 lead entering the fourth quarter before La Salle (22-9) took control and won the stanza, 22-14. Momentum and the game changed with the Lancers putting together a 9-0 run to start the fourth.
Flintridge Prep, which had won 16 games in a row, closed to within 58-55 on a basket by Kaitlyn Chen with 1:20 to go. Mucabuhay then made seven of eight free-throw attempts in the final 67 seconds to seal the victory.
“She’s an amazing player,” said La Salle Coach Freedom McCullough, whose Lancers lost to the Rebels on Nov. 22 via a 61-44 result. “You saw what she can do and there are a lot of things she does so well.
“She’s got experience and she’s poised. She can play well at both ends of the floor and she made a lot of big free throws down the stretch.”
La Salle received 12 points and three steals from Alyssa Arroyo and nine points and nine rebounds from Grace Fallar.
Flintridge Prep got 20 points, nine rebounds and seven assists from Chen, 19 points and seven rebounds from Renae Tamura and 14 points from Taylor Yoshida.
“They should be proud,” said Kiyomura, whose team held a 31-22 halftime lead. “Being in a new division, getting to the quarters would be a good run. We didn’t know what the competition would be like being in a new division.”
