Rally Earns Christian a Trip to State Final

It would have been out of character, but with his team playing like they were out to lunch, it didn’t seem out of order.

With the Christian girls’ basketball team seemingly mired in lethargy, Coach Mike Zazvrskey resisted the nagging temptation to do something he hadn’t done all season.

Yell .

“I tried not to yell; I knew they were very down on themselves as it was,” he said.

An encouraging word worked better than a brandishing one, and the Patriots turned their backs on a forgettable first half to take a 57-49 victory over Arcadia Rio Hondo Prep in the Southern California Division V Regional championship Saturday at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

This regional title was Christian’s second in a row, and with it the Patriots (23-4) advanced to the state final March 21 at the Arco Arena in Sacramento, where they will meet Northern California champion Ripon Christian, a 54-46 winner over Atherton Sacred Heart.

“Last year this game was my best of the entire year,” said Jenny Culbertson, the player who took control of the game when no one else could. “But I’d say this year is better because it’s happening now.”

Culbertson was sure the happening thing in the third quarter against the Kares (26-2). Forced into a game of catch-up with Rio Hondo, which took a 32-24 halftime lead, Culbertson found the high gear the Patriots had sought.

The 5-foot-10 senior forward scored six of the 10 points that gave Christian a 34-34 tie with 4:13 left in the third. Culbertson also had some key defensive rebounds, assists, a block and a steal that lifted the Patriots to a 42-36 lead going into the fourth.

Rio Hondo got as close as 46-44 with 3:45 left in the game, but Christian’s Diane DeGrenier and Stephanie Shadwell forced three steals and poor shot selection, and the Patriots sustained their improved second-half field goal shooting.

Culbertson said it maybe was an unconscious decision to change the pace of the game.

“Now that I think about it, maybe I did, but at the time I didn’t,” she said. “Coach just told us to be patient. If the shot was there, take it, if not, don’t.”

Said Zazvrskey: “Our No. 1 option, which is to get the ball to Tiffany (Stutz) wasn’t working. So I told the girls to look for their your own shots.”

Christian will remember how they reached this happy ending as much as how they didn’t . The Patriots saw things--a box-in-one--they never had before, and were forced out of things--their standard full-court press--that they trusted implicitly.

Rio Hondo’s defense put the plug on the usual effectiveness of Stutz, who still managed to score 16 points and make four steals.

“They had two people on her at a time. It made other people open,” said Culbertson, who scored a game-high 19 points and finished with 11 rebounds, nine of them defensive.

The game brought back memories of last year’s first regional round, when Rio Hondo shot out to a similar halftime lead and Christian had to make up ground in the second.

“They did the same exact thing to us last year,” said Pauline Hampton, who led Rio Hondo with 18 points. “We were ahead and they caught us at the end.”

Culbertson said Christian can’t savor this victory too long.

“A couple of day, then we really have to start thinking about Sacramento,” she said.

All six Patriots who played scored. Shadwell, a sophomore, scored 10 points and had 10 rebounds and six assists.