Past experience keys championship plan of action for La Cañada girls’ basketball

When the La Cañada High and Antelope Valley girls’ basketball teams met on Jan. 9, at least from the Spartans’ perspective, there was an understanding that the contest had a little extra meaning.

That afternoon, the No. 3-ranked Antelopes won their 11th consecutive game by beating the short-handed No. 4-ranked Spartans, 43-40, in the Antelope Valley Annual Showcase Extravaganza.

Since that contest, both teams have combined to go 27-1, including 6-0 in the postseason to advance to the CIF Southern Section Division III-A championship on Friday evening at 8:30 at Godinez Fundamental High in Santa Ana.

“We kind of thought it was a big game then and we’re definitely learning from that game and learning from things we did wrong,” La Cañada senior center Amber Graves said. “We’re working on what we can do better against them this next time. You kind of have to go into it with a mindset of we lost by three last time and let’s get after it and show them the team that we really are.”

The championship game appearance will be the first for both second-seeded Rio Hondo League champion La Cañada (26-3) and top-seeded Golden League titlist Antelope Valley (25-2) in each program’s history.

In the team’s first match-up, two issues arose for La Cañada: free-throw shooting and foul trouble.

The Spartans missed 12 of their 21 attempts from the charity stripe, while a few players struggled with foul issues.

“Yes, we’ve had some problems in the post getting in foul trouble, but I’m confident that we have good players coming off the bench who can also help if they need to,” Spartans junior guard Kristina Kurdoghlian said. “We have a good rotation going and we have girls ready to step in.”

Maybe the biggest change from the team’s first meeting is that the aforementioned Kurdoghlian will be present.

The junior guard, who hit a miraculous last-second three-pointer to defeat Corona del Mar, 55-52, in Saturday’s semifinal, was ill on Jan. 9 and missed the game.

“I think we can take a lot from that game, but it was a different game,” first-year La Cañada Coach Sarah Beattie said. “KK wasn’t playing, we had two starters who were sick and it just was a different time. I look at that game as a test in our ability at that point, but we’ve come a long way since then. Even then, win or lose, I felt confident that we could beat them if we played them again.”

While La Cañada is confident it’s improved since that contest, perhaps the same could be said about Antelope Valley.

The Antelopes opened the regular season with losses to Chaminade (84-52 score) and West Torrance (63-52) and have since run the table, going 25-0.

Like La Cañada, Antelope Valley has size, with five players 5-foot-10 or taller, highlighted by 6-3 junior center Oriana Brown.

The squad is also well-balanced with four scorers averaging eight or more points, led by 5-11 senior guard Tylen Price, who is tallying 16.4 points per contest.

Price tied with La Cañada’s Sarah Kurdoghlian for game-high honors on Jan. 9 as each player scored 13 points.

When Beattie reviews film from early January, she sees familiar patterns and is happy her squad has had some recent postseason tests in wins over Leuzinger (55-40) and Corona del Mar.

“We haven’t had too many close games all year and so I think having a close game going into the finals really tests our resolve and reminds the kids that we can come out on top in these close games,” Beattie said. “We know that it’s going to take focus and mental stability to come out on top.

“I definitely think that the Leuzinger game and Corona del Mar game prepared us really well for what we’re going to face on Friday. Antelope Valley is this weird conglomeration of those two teams and we’re put in a real good place to take what we’ve learned from our last two games and continue to work toward Friday and a hopeful victory.”