Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy basketball gets through Hoover, 49-32
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LA CAÑADA — It’s essentially the same team back that took third in the Sunshine League and qualified for the playoffs last season.
For the members of the Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy basketball team, having the same personnel in tact will probably keep them ahead of the learning curve while they spend about seven weeks during the summer looking to further hone their skills. Flintridge Sacred Heart received a pair of fine efforts from two of its key returners to help jump-start the team.
Jenna Tran and Kelly Fradet scored 15 points apiece to lift Flintridge Sacred Heart to a 49-32 victory against Hoover on Tuesday at Flintridge Prep.
PHOTOS: Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy prevails over Hoover, 49-32
“It definitely helps having just about everybody back,” said Flintridge Sacred Heart Coach Ty Buxman, whose team posted 15 wins and advanced to the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division IV-AA playoffs in February. “We’re looking to add some things into the mix and work on them during the summer.
“We’ll be playing some teams with tall players, like La Cañada, Flintridge Prep and Village Christian, so we want to see how we are able to play against people like that. We want to see how we are able to defend.”
Flintridge Sacred Heart held a 26-24 lead against Hoover, which fielded the minimum five players, at halftime before breaking the game apart. A layup by Tran, a reigning All-Area second-team and all-league first-team selection who averaged 16.3 points per game last season, gave the Tologs a 37-28 advantage with 7:55 remaining in the game.
Fradet then made a short jump shot to make it 43-30 with 6:25 left.
Tran, a senior guard, said the Tologs have begun clicking after several players returned from the school’s softball team that reached the Division V quarterfinals in May.
“We’ve had about half of the team working together since the spring and a lot of the softball players have come back and we’ve just been getting on the same page,” Tran said. “It’s good that we already know each other and what we can do.
“We’re working on getting our post game going and passing the ball inside. I think we’re doing pretty well.”
Fatigued Hoover stayed with Flintridge Sacred Heart throughout the first half. A layup by Mikaela Mauricio at the buzzer brought the Tornadoes to within 26-24.
The Tornadoes received 14 points from Nanor Sevajian and 12 from Mauricio. Mauricio made a jump shot to tie the game at 19 with 3:10 remaining in the first half.
Hoover Coach Stan Watson said the Tornadoes ran out of steam in the second half.
“We hung in there,” Watson said. “We’ve only had a couple of practices in the summer and we haven’t put in our defensive rotation yet.
“I thought we handled ourselves well, but then we just got tired. We only had two players with varsity experience in Nanor and Mikaela,” Watson said. “Right now, it’s about working on skill development and getting in some more practice time.”
