Rebels notch league victory
LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE —Funny what the smallest of adjustments can do.
Flintridge Prep’s Kimberly Kim had missed all six of her three-point attempts in the first half of the Rebels’ Prep League girls’ basketball game with Mayfield and went into halftime scoreless.
At halftime, Rebels Coach Todd Frost knew why his shooter was struggling.
“I had Kimberly on the wrong side,” said Frost after the 34-24 home victory over the Cubs. “Once I put her on the right side, she started hitting her shots.”
The strategy worked, as Kim nailed three from behind the arc in the second half and finished with a team-high 11 points.
The team, overall, heated up in the second half. After making just three field goals in the first half and limping to a 9-4 advantage going into the break, the Rebels scored 17 points in the third, thanks in large part to four three-pointers.
“That’s what we tell our shooters — to keep shooting,” said Frost, who also got eight points from Maya Okamoto and six points, four assists and a whopping 27 rebounds, according to Prep stat keepers, from Kristin Shum.
Kim’s first and second three-point baskets of the night began and ended a stretch midway through the third in which the Rebels scored nine of 10 points with Okamoto also hitting one from long range.
The Rebels (6-13, 3-5) outscored the Cubs by seven points in the third stanza and took a 12-point lead into a final frame in which Mayfield didn’t get closer than 10, despite its best shooting quarter, while the Rebels attempted just eight field goals and committed four turnovers.
“I thought defensively we were solid,” said Mayfield Coach Kevin Yamamoto, who saw his team turn the ball over 17 times. “Offensively, we weren’t as solid and we missed a lot of easy baskets and didn’t capitalize on our opportunities.”
The Cubs (7-10, 1-8) never got in rhythm on offense, making just 10 field goals for the game, as it could have been a lot more had they connected on their attempts around the rim.
The two squads had better scoring nights when they battled into overtime in their previous meeting Jan. 13, in which the Rebels pulled out a 46-43 league win.
This time around, Flintridge Prep controlled the game throughout, as it never trailed and saw the score tied up by Mayfield only once when the game was knotted at two points apiece.
“This one was a little more comfortable,” said Frost, whose team had dropped four of its last five. “But any league win is a good win.”