Royal’s Mittel Lets Her Game Do the Talking

Mike Kohl, the coach at Simi Valley Royal, says he probably hasn’t heard Kinsley Mittel utter 400 words over the last four years, and most of those came only in the last two years.

But Mittel’s game speaks volumes.

When it comes to value to a team, Mittel is on the short list of players who mean everything.

Mittel, a senior, averaged 22.3 points, six assists and 2.5 steals in helping Royal to a 25-4 record this season.

The Highlanders nearly reached their first semifinal, but lost a Division I-A quarterfinal Saturday to Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley, 74-64, despite Mittel’s 28 points.

“She’s the best player we’ve played all year,” Capistrano Valley Coach Pete Belanto said.

“She’s better than advertised. She’s electrifying.”

At point guard, Mittel is out of position, but she was moved there out of necessity last season.

“If we had a point guard,” Kohl said, “[Mittel] would be scoring even more.”

Maybe no player in the Southland is more unassuming. While most long for a scholarship to a high-profile college, Mittel wanted to stay close to home and attend The Master’s College in Santa Clarita.

“The biggest part of my life is my relationship with God,” Mittel said. “Basketball is a gift He’s given me, and so I play to honor Him.”

And so she’s going to play at a school with about 1,300 students, less than half the size of Royal’s student body.

“It’s a place where I can grow closer to God,” said Mittel, who has a 4.3 grade-point average. “If I went somewhere else, I could have fun with [the basketball], but I don’t think I would have as much fun with the things that actually matter.”

Kohl said other colleges had called about Mittel -- he wouldn’t say which -- but he turned them away because she already had her mind set on The Master’s.

“They’re getting a real steal,” Kohl said.

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Erika Arriaran was one of the outstanding players last season during her freshman year at Norco.

She plans on being even better next year as a junior. But this year, Arriaran sat out the season to focus on her academic studies through a home-schooling program.

“It’s a quicker way to accelerate through school,” Arriaran said. “My junior and senior years, I want to start looking at colleges and concentrate more on basketball, and not worry so much about school.”

Hoping to one day play in the Olympics and eventually in the WNBA, the 5-foot-11 guard is keeping her game sharp by playing in a men’s league in East Los Angeles and with her travel team.

“Men are obviously better than girls, and a lot faster and more aggressive,” said Arriaran, who helped Norco reach the Division II-AA semifinals last season and made The Times’ All-Inland Empire team.

“I needed to get faster. It’s made me react a lot quicker, made me have a lot more confidence in myself.”

She saw about half of Norco’s games this season as the Cougars went 18-9.

If she could do one thing differently, she would have skipped her practice with the men’s team to attend Norco’s first-round playoff game, a 43-39 loss to Placentia El Dorado.

“I regret not going,” she said. “I should have supported them. I didn’t realize that it was going to happen.”

She won’t miss next year’s games though. She’ll be back in uniform. And, to put to rest any rumors....

“I’m going to Norco,” she said. “Everyone keeps changing what I’m saying. I’m going to Norco.”

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The turning point in Corona Centennial’s 65-62 victory over second-seeded Alhambra Keppel came when Keppel’s Monique Diaz sprained her ankle hustling after a loose ball. Diaz, who outscored Centennial’s Jenna Sybesma in the first half, 16-5, was outscored in the second, 19-7.

Told the same kind of hustle and scrappiness that helped Keppel (26-4) achieve much of its success also led to its ultimate defeat, Diaz had a simple response: “Ironic, isn’t it?”

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It was a wild scene at the end of Harbor City Narbonne’s 77-43 victory over Chatsworth on Friday in a City Section Championship Division semifinal at Harbor College. After officials called Chatsworth’s Taneca Lowe for a technical foul with 55 seconds left, they called a double-technical seconds later against Chatsworth’s Shayna Krivis and Narbonne’s Monique Alexander, which prompted a Chatsworth fan to throw a water bottle onto the floor. He was escorted from the gym by two police officers but was not arrested....

LaShay Fears has stepped up in the playoffs for Sylmar, which plays Narbonne in the Championship Division final Saturday at the Forum. Fears averaged 11 points during the regular season, but has averaged 21 in the playoffs, including 18 in a 61-29 semifinal victory over Carson....

San Clemente’s Lacey Burns played the last four minutes of the Tritons’ 48-45 victory over Saugus in the Division I-A quarterfinals with a broken nose. She missed about eight minutes before returning....

Mission Hills Alemany made a surprising run to the semifinals in Division III-AA before losing to Artesia, 59-40. The Indians should be a favorite next season with the return of four starters.