Rebels fall in overtime

BURBANK — It’s not certain how many one-point games the members of the Flintridge Prep girls’ basketball team will be involved in this season, but it got its first one out of the way.

The Rebels encountered their first such situation Thursday afternoon and came up on the losing end despite three chances in the final 10 seconds of overtime.

Flintridge Prep second-year Coach Todd Frost said the end result might be an invaluable learning experience.

“We are a young team and we have to learn how to execute better at the end of games,” said Frost after Flintridge Prep suffered a 25-24 loss to Canoga Park in the 13th-place game of the 14th annual Pioneer Shootout at Providence High. “Until you get in that situation, you just never know.

“It was a sloppy game and the execution wasn’t there. We didn’t execute on both ends of the floor.”

With 10.1 seconds remaining in the four-minute overtime session and the Rebels trailing, 25-24, Flintridge Prep (3-7) missed a pair of free throws. After a Flintridge Prep foul, Canoga Park (2-8) promptly missed two free throws with 8.3 remaining. The Rebels then came down the floor and had a shot bounce off the rim to a Canoga Park player, who was then called for traveling with 0.1 seconds left. On its last possession, Flintridge Prep couldn’t get a shot off as the buzzer sounded.

“On that last play, you just got to get a tip and pray for a lot of luck,” said Frost, whose team opened the tournament with losses against Village Christian and Crossroads before rebounding Wednesday with a victory against New Roads. “You have to have a good inbounds pass and you need faith on your side.”

Unfortunately for the Rebels, they didn’t have fate on their side — even before overtime.

Flintridge Prep, which won’t play again until Jan. 6 against Maranatha in a nonleague game before beginning Prep League play versus Chadwick on Jan. 8, took a 22-19 lead on a basket by Gabby Zen with 1:37 left in the fourth quarter. The Hunters then got a free throw to pull to within 22-20 before Tiffani Walker made a long-distance jump shot to knot the game at 22 with 1:15 left.

The Rebels and Hunters squandered plenty of scoring chances throughout regulation. Flintridge Prep didn’t score its first basket until Maya Okamoto made a bank shot with 24 seconds left in the first quarter to cut Canoga Park’s lead to 4-3. Okamoto finished with a game-high 14 points.

The teams were tied, 10-10, at halftime.

Canoga Park received 11 points and eight rebounds from Kelsey Aitken.