Granada Hills Girls Topple Roosevelt in City 3-A Final

Granada Hills High started strong and finished even stronger Friday afternoon at the Sports Arena, defeating defending champion Roosevelt, 50-42, for the girls’ City Section 3-A Division basketball title.

It was just the team’s play in the middle of the game that tried the patience of Highlander Coach Carolyn Gunny.

Ahead, 16-4, early in the second quarter, Granada Hills (13-6) stumbled under the stress of Roosevelt’s aggressive, full-court press and fell behind, 23-20, in the third period. But the Highlanders recovered and pulled away in the last five minutes, outscoring the Rough Riders, 16-7.

“We started playing (Roosevelt’s) brand of ball,” Gunny said. “That’s what we talked about at halftime, playing our style.”

The Highlanders slowed the tempo in the third quarter but had to work through 12 lead changes before wearing down Roosevelt (18-6).

“That was nerve-racking,” Gunny said.

Granada Hills took the lead for good, 36-35, with five minutes to play on two Yvonne Zandi free throws. An eight-foot, turnaround jump shot by sophomore Young La and a follow shot by senior forward Shelise Tillman gave the Highlanders a five-point advantage, 40-35, and they never looked back.

Granada Hills hit 12 of 26 shots (46%) in the second half after making six of 23 (26%) in the first half. Roosevelt was a cold 19 for 65 (29%) in the game, eight for 27 in the second half.

“Once we started shooting well, everyone got pumped up,” said Tillman, who had 13 points and 11 rebounds. “Everybody said the Valley girls can’t do it, but we did it.”

Senior guard Karen Berkowitz led Granada Hills with 17 points. Zandi pulled down 14 rebounds and blocked five shots to go with six points. Sophomore forward Denise Caudillo paced the Rough Riders with 15 points, five below her average, and senior center Martha Serrano added 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Berkowitz said the Highlanders decided at halftime not to let the championship slip away.

“We just realized how much we wanted it and how far we had come,” Berkowitz said. “We weren’t going to give up until the end.”

Roosevelt Coach Lorenzo Garcia gave credit to the Highlanders. “Granada Hills showed a lot of tenacity,” he said. “They were patient.”