Culver City girls’ dream season continues

Photo courtesy of George Laase UNDERHAND—Michelle Curry shovels the ball toward the net while being guarded in State Tournament quarterfinal come-from-behind win over Garces, 53-52, last Saturday.

Culver City’s varsity girls’ basketball team continued its dream season by winning two State Regional games last week. The Centaurs beat Los Angeles Roosevelt 64-40 and edged Bakersfield Garces 53-52 to reach the regional semifinal against No. 1 seed Chaminade on Tuesday March 18. If the Centaurs beat Chaminade they will play the regional final on Saturday March 22.

Culver City’s game against Chaminade of West Hills in the valley will match size against speed. Chaminade has four girls taller than six feet and the Culver City has none. The Centaurs’ tallest player is 5’11 backup center Gwen Machado. The Centaurs will need to run, use their quickness and stay out of foul trouble.

“We need to make sure we box out, talk on defense and play within our game plan,” said senior captain Kelsey Ueda after their win over Garces.

Against Garces Culver City needed big games from their three stars and Lindsey Tanita to advance to the semifinal. Michelle Curry scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds and Kailey Tooke had 13 points and six rebounds. Ueda scored six points along with seven rebounds and Tanita chipped in with a much-needed 10 points.

Curry led host Culver, the regional playoffs’ No. 4 seed, with 22 points in its 64-40 first round victory over CIF-Los Angeles City Section Division II runner-up Roosevelt from East L.A. on March 12.

The Lady Centaurs started fast on the Roughriders with a 22-9 first quarter lead and never let up from there.

Katie Lin and Tooke contributed 17 and 14 points, in order.

To beat Chaminade they will need a complete team effort. “We need to cut down on our mistakes,” assistant coach Mark Kitabaysh said. “Chaminade is a great team. We can’t play the way we played today and beat Chaminade.”

Maybe the Centaurs can learn something from their one point victory against Garces; they were down 11-1 to start the game but kept their sights on the big picture. “We did not panic when we were down,” Kitabayshi said. “If we would have made our free throws the game would not have been so close.”

If Culver City can make their shots and free throw against Chaminade, the Centaurs can pull the upset and reach the final.

“A lot of our goals have been fulfilled but we are not finished,” said Ueda. “I could not have asked for better teammates. Each and every girl on this team is amazing.”

Photo courtesy of George Laase HOLD ON—Centaur senior Kelsey Ueda fights for control in the CIF State quarterfinals at Culver City High School against Garces High School of Bakersfield.