Reseda Girls Join Kennedy as No-Shows at Tournament

Reseda High forfeited its fifth-place semifinal game in the Simi Valley girls’ basketball tournament Wednesday, becoming the second City Section team to fail to appear.

Perennial City power Kennedy did not show up for its first-round game Saturday against La Reina.

Reseda, the two-time defending City 3-A Division champion, failed to show up Wednesday for its scheduled game against Westlake because Coach Andrea Francola misread the schedule.

“All I can say is I misread the schedule and I thought we were playing at 3 p.m. (Friday.),” said Francola, who added that she tried to contact tournament director Dave Murphy after realizing her mistake.

Reseda, which defeated Newbury Park and lost to Buena in its first 2 tournament games, is scheduled to play La Reina this afternoon at 3 for seventh place. Murphy indicated that Reseda is welcome.

“No problem, a mistake is a mistake,” he said. “I’m planning to talk to (Francola). If they show up, they’ll play.”

Kennedy Coach Toya Holiday said that she withdrew because her players lacked the enthusiasm--and transportation--for the holiday tournament.

“We played in it last year and it just wasn’t worth it,” Holiday said. “We just didn’t want to play this year, and the girls said it was too hard to get there.”

Murphy said that he was not informed of Kennedy’s intention to withdraw.

Holiday disputed that, saying, “They sent us a contract and we never signed it.”