It Turns Into Another Banner Day for Dykstra

Eleanor Dykstra has always liked closely played games, so in fitting fashion, her 600th career victory last week was a nail-biter, a 46-41 overtime victory over Newport Harbor.

She hopes it’s a step toward another Southern Section banner to be hung on the gym wall at Cerritos Valley Christian, where Dykstra has taught since the fall of 1968. In her 30th season of coaching basketball, Dykstra is responsible for 13 of the 25 banners, including two for softball.

“You’ve been teaching us a lot of things off the court and on the court,” said Danielle Verhoeven, one of her players, in the postgame ceremony. “I hope we don’t give you too many heart attacks.”

Dykstra’s record is 600-143. She has seen 32 of her players go on to play college basketball. She has reached three state championship games. She even coached the boys’ team, as the shooting coach, in 1989-90 when her son, Rick, was on the varsity. That team reached the Southern California regional finals. She also coached her daughter, Cindy.

“No, I don’t feel like a dinosaur,” said Dykstra, who also has 316 wins as a softball coach and 120 in volleyball. She has also coached track and field. “I’m a student of the game and work really hard at this.”

This year’s team, after losing the championship game of the Valley Christian tournament to Whittier La Serna, 54-52, dropped to 6-4

“What makes her so good is that she’s smart,” said Orange Lutheran Coach Tony Matson, who coached against Dykstra last season in the Olympic League. “If you can make her call a timeout, you’ve really accomplished something. She’s the queen of the small schools.”

And Friday night, after Megan Lovingier scored 17 in the historic victory, it was good to be queen.

“I get way too much credit for this,” she said. “It takes a lot of good kids, good assistant coaches, a lot of support from school.... I’ve been so richly blessed.”

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Notre Dame-bound Crystal Erwin, the 6-foot-3 standout at Santa Fe Springs St. Paul, didn’t play in her team’s showdown against Fullerton Rosary, which doesn’t have a player taller than 5-10.

Erwin had been ejected a game earlier against Cerritos and missed playing against the Royals because of the mandatory one-game suspension.

“The officials felt she had thrown a punch,” St. Paul Coach Robert Miller said. “I really don’t think she did. I think she pushed the girl away because she was frustrated.”

Tenth-ranked Rosary won, 57-19, and won the Los Alamitos tournament championship to improve to 9-1 behind most valuable player Jasmine Martin. St. Paul finished the tournament at 8-2.

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Redondo Coach Marcelo Enriquez predicted before the season that his team would start slow. He was right.

The Seahawks lost to San Clemente, 54-35. Nine days later in the Nike Tournament of Champions, they avenged the loss with a 55-32 victory over the third-ranked Tritons.

“We have six seniors on the team, and I keep reminding them this is their last go-round,” Enriquez said. “This group has been through two CIF championships, a crushing semifinal upset two years ago, and went to the state finals last year.

“[The seniors] really wanted to show San Clemente they were much better than the first time around. Our level of intensity, level of confidence, was much higher.”

Senior guard Krisztina Fuleki had 16 points, five assists and six rebounds, but it was the Seahawks’ balance that was critical. Tyler Martinook and Christina Scarratt each had eight points as nine players scored.

Redondo has benefited from the defense of Dominique Harris, a transfer from Venice.

“She brings some incredible versatility to us,” Enriquez said. “She can guard a post player because of her height [5-10] and quickness, and she’s so quick and athletic we can put her on a very good guard.”

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After its first nine games last season under first-year Coach Holly Pawlowski, Cerritos was 2-7. This year, the team is 7-2, and is led by six returning players, including seniors Lisa Nuzawa and Katheryn Lee.

Point guard Lauren Kamiyama, a junior, is averaging nine points and had 100 steals and 100 assists each of the last two seasons.