Kirby Is a Leader With Style : Girls’ basketball: In a season of turmoil, Lynwood’s junior forward says team has found togetherness as it prepares for State final.

If the Lynwood High girls’ basketball team wins the State championship Saturday at the Oakland Coliseum Arena, Timicha Kirby will be expecting some apologies.

Kirby, a junior forward, will lead Lynwood into the Division I championship game against San Francisco Balboa.

For Lynwood, winning the title would provide a satisfying finish to a bittersweet season marked by a coaching controversy. Lynwood is 30-0, Balboa 17-14.

“In the beginning of the season, a lot of people doubted us,” Kirby said. “They thought we were going to fall apart. But when you’re as dedicated as we are, when you’re a team, a whole team doesn’t fall apart.

“I want people to come up to us and congratulate us and say, ‘Sorry.’ We are a team, and we stood together and worked it out.”

The controversy began in September, when Lynwood assistant coach Ellis Barfield was suspended for a year for coaching Lynwood players in an off-season tournament, a violation of Southern Section rules.

A school investigation later found that Coach Maurice Roberson ordered Barfield to coach the players in that tournament. Roberson resigned and Barfield was brought back and instated, a week after practice had begun, as the varsity coach.

But losing Roberson, 103-16 in four years, was a blow to the Lynwood players.

Expectations were high for this season’s Lynwood squad. Last season, Lynwood advanced to the Southern Regional final, then lost to Palos Verdes Peninsula, 54-44. Though Lynwood lost four seniors from that team, Kirby’s return figured to make the Knights a power again.

But some doubted that Lynwood could withstand the controversy.

Off the court, the players dealt with the confusion and sadness caused by the loss of Roberson by holding team meetings, which helped form a bond, Kirby said.

And the team concept stuck. This season, it is difficult to pick out a star player.

Kirby, who averages 18 points and 10 rebounds, is neither the team captain nor the team’s leading scorer, but she stands out because of her spectacular style.

But one of the reasons Kirby looks so good is her teammates, who don’t drop the ball when they are on the receiving end of her accurate, no-look passes.

Four Lynwood players, including Kirby, score in double figures. Elana Adams, a senior guard, leads Lynwood with a 19-point average.

But Kirby has the moves.

Kirby’s father taught her to play basketball when she was 12. As a freshman, she led Inglewood Morningside to the 1991 State final.

When her father moved to Sacramento before her sophomore year, Kirby moved in with her mother and transferred to Lynwood to play for Roberson.

Barfield, 28, was an assistant to Roberson for three seasons, and says the biggest difference for him as a head coach is how hard he has to push his players.

Lynwood players push themselves, spending up to six hours together after school. They study together, go to practice, then shoot around after practice.

And if they win the State championship, they will be standing together, holding their trophy, while Kirby accepts apologies.