The atmosphere in the Del Goodyear gymnasium on the Culver City campus last Friday was similar to the CIF playoffs. The crowd was loud. The players were intense, and the Sentinel coaches were out of control during Culver City’s 48-40 victory over Inglewood.
The Centaurs are 21-4 overall and 8-0 in the Ocean League. They beat Hawthorne 61-41 on Tuesday and travel to Beverly Hills Thursday, 6 p.m., for the last regular season game. The CIF Playoff bracket will be announced on Sunday.
At one point, against Inglewood, the visiting coach argued with an assistant. During the last few minutes of the game Inglewood’s coach received a technical foul while Culver’s coach Julian Anderson and his assistants kept their composure during the intense game.
“Inglewood has played us tough all year,” said Anderson after the victory on Friday night. “They had one of their better players missing, and they still did a great job against us.” Culver City and Inglewood had split two previous games this season so Culver City was able to win the tie breaker.
Culver City was led by Michelle Curry’s 24 points and Katie Lin’s 11.
“Offensively Michelle was a monster in the paint, but her defense needs to get better,” said Anderson. “She also needs to stay out of foul trouble.”
Culver City uses an eight and sometimes nine girl rotation which proves to be an advantage at the end of games. At one point in the second half Anderson had his three best players on the bench, and Culver City continued to lead.
“I think we have a good team, and we are a lot deeper than I thought we would be,” said Anderson.
Kelsey Ueda, Kate Suyetsugu, Lindsey Tanita, Kaily Tooke, Megan Yoon, Gwendolyn Machado, Curry and Lin keep Culver City in position to play with a lot of energy.
“We were not focused in the beginning of the game, but coach pulled us together,” said Lin. “He told us we were not playing Culver City basketball. We played better in the second half.”
Centaur basketball is playing quick and smart. They have the players and the coach togo deep into the CIF playoffs, but they still need to improve on making shots in the fourth quarter and rebounding.
The crowd on Friday night helped put the Centaur girls in the right frame of mind. “Having a big crowd like that will help us get ready for the CIF playoffs,” said Ueda.
“We all have to be on the same page and communicate more. We need to keep our composure and stay confident.”