Girls’ Basketball Preview: Flintridge Prep, Crescenta Valley linked by change

Nearly every local girls’ basketball squad endured a fair amount of change this offseason, with rosters from Crescenta Valley High, Flintridge Prep, Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, Hoover, St. Monica Academy and Holy Family including several new names and faces.

Even at Glendale High, an intact squad feels it’s different and better than last year.

Life without 2016 All-Area Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year Alisa Shinn begins in earnest for Crescenta Valley in its own tournament.

Falcons Coach Jason Perez knows it will be difficult to replicate what was a dream season for Crescenta Valley as his squad finished 25-10 and 12-2 within the Pacific League to take second place behind stalwart Burroughs.

Crescenta Valley then embarked on an improbable run to a CIF Southern Section Division I-A championship that ended with a 37-36 victory over Mira Costa in the finals. The Falcons also advanced to the second round of the CIF State Division II playoffs.

At the center of that title run was 6-foot-3 Shinn, who was also the Division I-A Player of the Year and the Pacific League co-Player of the Year.

Shinn is gone along with Pacific League second-team forward Josie Brock. The duo were were two of five seniors who graduated.

With such talent out the door and a fantastic championship run in the rear-view mirror, Perez has only one motto for his team.

“You’ve got to move forward, there’s really no other choice,” Perez said. “You want to be happy for sure, but you can’t live in the past. As a coaching staff you look at what made you successful last year. You then ask yourself, which of those things can we still do with our personnel and which can’t we do.”

Perez has a roster of 13 players and three returning starters on a team that was bumped up to Division I-AA along with Burroughs.

League honorable mention senior guard Polin Megerdichian, the squad’s second-leading scorer in the postseason last season, is back along with senior guard Michelle Gee, who Perez says is his team’s best defender.

One of the interesting returners is sophomore guard Caity Bouchard, who proved to be a huge lift in the playoffs and averaged almost 10 points per postseason game.

Outside of those three, junior guard Rachel Dayag will be a valuable contributor off the bench as will younger sister freshman Denise Dayag.

Perez is also expecting big things from 5-11 center Senayt Tassew, who will look to improve upon her five-point-per-game average. Valencia High transfer Sarah Perez (no relation) will also make to look an impact.

Flintridge Prep lost a big presence inside, as the Rebels graduated six seniors, including dynamic forward Tala Ismail and gritty guard Natalie Rozman.

While Ismail, the Prep League MVP and an All-CIF and All-Area pick, missed a good portion of the season with a knee injury, the forward liked to push the tempo as she averaged 10 points, 8.7 rebounds, four steals, 1.9 assists and 1.7 blocks per game.

“We have a good class coming in with some solid returners, but it’s also hard losing Tala and Natalie,” said Flintridge Prep co-Coach Kevin Kiyomura, who shares the duties with Jayme Chan. “We’re just a different team. We’ll have some similarities in the transition offense and defense, but we’ll have a different look.”

Not only will Flintridge Prep have a different style in 2016-17, but a different division, as the squad was moved up from Division V-AA to III-A.

Such a change came a year after Flintridge Prep enjoyed arguably its greatest season in program history, as the Rebels finished 21-5 and 11-1 in league to capture a Prep League crown.

The Rebels then won their first-ever Southern Section title with a 39-34 overtime victory versus Mission Prep in the Division V-AA championship. Flintridge Prep also advanced two rounds in the CIF State Division V playoffs.

If a similar run is to take place, then it’s likely that senior guards and co-captains Renae Tamura and Taylor Yoshida will play a big role.

Tamura is back after being named the CIF-SS Division V-AA Player of the Year and an All-Prep League first-team and All-Area second-team choice. Tamura averaged 11.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.2 steals per game and turned in a fantastic effort with 20 points, eight rebounds and two steals in the title game victory.

Yoshida, a league first-team pick, averaged 13 points, 3.7 assists, 3.3 steals per game.

“We still conceptually want to share the ball, but the vast majority of this offense is going right through Taylor and Renae,” Kiyomura said. “We’re going to ask them to be a little more assertive on offense.”

With the focus on Yoshida and Tamura, Kiyomura is hoping senior Natalie Benn will blossom at forward, while a few of the freshmen who shined over the summer will continue to progress into solid players.

At Glendale, second-year coach Tadeh Mardirosian returns all eight players from last season, while he added one to his bench.

“I’m excited for sure, especially coming off of last year,” Mardirosian said. “We finished third place, which I believe was the school’s best finish in 12 years. Now we’re into the second year and we’ve learned a lot from our mistakes.

“We’ve put in a lot of hard work and the chemistry at this point is 10-fold better now. There’s just a lot of excitement here.”

Last season, the Nitros finished 15-14, 9-5 in league and placed third in the competitive Pacific League below powers Burroughs and Crescenta Valley.

At the middle of that success was center Sylvia Vartazarian, an All-Area and All-Pacific League first-team pick.

The 5-11 senior was Glendale’s No. 1 option on offense and averaged 12.4 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game.

“I think everyone in the league knows who she is and she’s not going to sneak up on anybody,” Mardirosian said. “While people may know some of her moves from last year, she’s developed a lot since then. She a different and even better player than last year.”

When the ball goes inside, Vartazarian can easily kick out to a pair of talented guards in Claire and Jillian Yanai.

Senior Claire Yanai, a Pacific League first-team selection, averaged nine points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.7 steals per game, while junior guard and league honorable mention Jillian Yanai averaged 6.1 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.5 steals per game.

Mardirosian is also expecting a strong season from senior guard Merina Latu.

If Glendale is to advance to the postseason again, the Nitros will be in a completely different division, as they were dropped from Division I-A to II-A.

Though Flintridge Sacred Heart did not advance to a championship game last year, there’s no denying the Tologs also enjoyed a special 2015-16 campaign.

The squad finished 21-8 and 6-2 in league for second place in the Sunshine League. The Tologs also made a run to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2011 in Division IV-AA.

With that success, Flintridge Sacred Heart was moved back into the Mission League and up to Division III-AA.

Unfortunately for coach Ty Buxman, last year’s team isn’t coming back to meet those challenges as the Tologs graduated nine seniors, including a special trio of guards Jenna Tran, Kelly Fradet and Casey Johnson.

“It’s more than fair to say that this is a rebuilding year,” Buxman said. “I not only lost all of those seniors, but eight of my top nine players overall. There’s only one kid coming back with any significant varsity experience and a few others with a little bit of experience here and there.”

Out of Buxman’s 12-player roster, three are returners with senior forward Camilla Homans owning the lion’s share of experience after averaging 6.1 points and eight rebounds a game last year, which garnered her league second-team accolades.

Junior small forward Claudia Ruder also returns, but will have an expanded role, as will sophomore Ryan Dubb.

“For Camilla and for this team, it’s going to be a completely different look,” Buxman said. “Last year, we had the three guards who could kick to Camilla and create opportunities for the team. It was a nice inside-out game. This year, we’ll have to use Camilla’s length to our advantage.”

At Hoover, the Tornadoes were dropped from Division IV-AA to V-AA.

While that may be good news for coach Stan Watson, the seven-year veteran once again has a young team as his squad of 12 includes only three returners.

Last season, the Tornadoes finished 6-20 and 2-12 in league with their league victories coming against hapless Muir.

If there’s a big returner, it’s senior shooting guard Mary Cantos, who Watson described as his “team’s only pure shooter.”

Cantos is flanked by senior guard Khiara Alemendras and junior guard Marisol Velasquez, who will be critical to running the offense.

Other players to watch for are small forward Djaqueline Rivera, post player Narineh Hovassian and junior Lisette Cuza.

Perhaps the most dynamic player in the program isn’t even on varsity, as Watson was still pondering if he would call up freshman Minella Aghajani, the team’s leading scorer and arguably its best player during summer ball.

“For us, this season is all about development,” Watson said. “I want the girls to have a good time and to compete.”

Maybe Hoover’s biggest disadvantage is its size, as Watson will run a four-guard lineup.

“We don’t have anybody over [5 foot 5], maybe even 5-4,” he said. “So, we’re going to have to rely a lot on speed and shooting and we’ll try to play our best defense.”

There was a change that took place this offseason at St. Monica Academy, which tapped Owen Keenan to become only the program’s third-ever coach.

Keenan came from the only other program in the La Crescenta-Montrose area as he was the junior varsity head coach at Crescenta Valley last season.

“When I looked around the area for potential jobs, I thought St. Monica would be the perfect fit,” Keenan said. “The school was my No. 1 choice and I’m very excited for the opportunity.”

St. Monica is perhaps as different a program as any other in the area as a roster of 13 players includes five seniors contrasted with five players who have no formal playing experience at all, which leads to some interesting practices.

“I’ve been coaching for 21 years and it’s the most unique experience I’ve had,” Keenan said. “So, at one practice we’ll split it up for advanced players and for the others, we work on footwork, offense and defense.”

Senior Molly Hagan will be St. Monica’s “do everything” player, as Keenan says he’ll rotate her between guard, power forward and center.

Hagan will be aided by senior guard Hannah Acosta and senior forward Brigit Grimm, daughter of boys’ basketball coach Peter Grimm.

St. Monica is hoping to return to the postseason a year after finishing 14-6, winning the International League title (6-0) and advancing to the second round of the Division VI playoffs. The Crusaders moved up two divisions to Division V-AA.

For the third time in three seasons, Holy Family will welcome a new coach with Gayle Lachica taking over the reins.

Last season, the Gaels had their share of struggles, as they finished 7-16 and 4-6 within the Horizon League for fifth place.

Lachica returns nearly an entire squad from last year, but did lose all-league choice Tabitha Ruiz, the team’s leading scorer.

Holy Family has a proven rebounder in senior forward Doris Rivera, who can also score. The squad will also count on production from juniors Ally and Kaitlyn Blanco.