Flintridge Prep girls’ basketball outmuscles Los Altos in CIF second-round playoff victory
HACIENDA HEIGHTS — Whether the lead was in single or double digits, the Flintridge Prep girls’ basketball team never lost focus against Los Altos in the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division II-AA playoffs on Saturday.
Down the stretch in the third quarter, the Rebels turned to stellar rebounding to hold the Conquerors at bay and convert them into easy baskets to spark their scoring runs.
Flintridge Prep’s key rebounding set up a big lead at the end of the third on the way to a 61-42 road win.
“We’ve been in the playoffs before, so we know that the game is long,” Flintridge Prep co-coach Kevin Kiyomura said. “People are going to make runs, so we just wanted to stay focused and we did a great job of that.”
Flintridge Prep (24-4 overall; Prep League champions) will travel to face top-seeded Orangewood Academy (23-6; San Joaquin League champions) in a quarterfinal contest Wednesday at a time to be determined.
Flintridge Prep senior Kaitlyn Chen finished with 18 points, 13 rebounds and five assists and senior Alex Kyriakakis added 16 points and 10 rebounds, with seven on the offensive end.
Rebels junior Sofia Gonzalez chipped in with 11 points and five rebounds.
Conquerors junior Emma Magana led the hosts with 18 points and senior Madelyn Roel pitched in with 11 points and five rebounds. Los Altos junior Christina Liao added 10 points.
The Rebels led for much of the first quarter until the Conquerors tied it at 9 behind a three-pointer from Roel.
A put-back two from Chen led to another basket from the senior, who went coast-to-coast to give Flintridge Prep a 13-9 lead with 2:56 to go.
After a pair of free throws from Kyriakakis, Chen scored another pair of baskets as the Rebels took a 19-9 lead on the back of a 10-0 run with 1:09 to go in the first.
Consecutive threes from Roel and Magana for Los Altos cut the Flintridge Prep lead to 19-15 at the end of the first quarter.
The Conquerors (26-2; Hacienda League champions) came within one of the the Rebels lead, 22-21, to start the second quarter backed by a pair of three-pointers from Magana.
After trading baskets for the next three minutes to stay within one point of each other, the Rebels finished the half on a 13-2 run to end the half with a 37-25 lead.
“I felt like we just stuck to coach Kevin’s plan and as we did that, we were able to stay within our own game and play the game we should,” Chen said. “We were very focused tonight and it definitely worked out.”
Kyriakakis closed a short 6-0 run from the Rebels and made it a 46-30 lead with 3:08 remaining in the third quarter. Magana cut the run short on a four-point play to make it a 12-point difference.
Kyriakakis was found open for two more jumpers to give the Rebels a 50-34 lead with 1:30 to go in the third quarter.
“We all moved the ball really well,” Kyriakakis said. “The ball just found whoever was open whenever it needed to happen and it just got knocked down.”
A three from Rebels senior Andie Kim (nine points, three three-pointers made) gave Flintridge Prep a 53-36 lead just before the end of the third quarter.
Chen opened up the fourth with a pair of baskets to give the Rebels their largest lead of the quarterfinal, 57-37, with 6:24 remaining.