The Culver City girls’ varsity basketball team started the season 2015-16 season with some disturbing losses, injuries and questionable leadership on the court. Now the lady Centaurs are back on top of the Ocean league and are poised to make a run in the CIF playoffs. They are currently on a nine game winning streak and they have won 11 out of their last 12 games.
With a win tonight against Beverly Hills, the Centaurs will capture their fifth straight Ocean league title. They are currently 16-7 overall and 7-1 in league play. “We are actually playing a whole lot better than we did at the beginning of the year,” said head coach Julian Anderson after they beat Santa Monica last Friday night 65-34. “I hope we are peaking at the right time and I hope we can get better.”
Anderson continued to say, “ It’s hard for me to pinpoint my expectations for this team but hopefully we can get it all figured out before we go into the playoffs. With this group of girls we can go far in the playoffs or we can lose in the first few rounds. It all depends on how much we improve between now and the playoffs.”
If they play like they did against Santa Monica the sky is the limit for this team. On senior night inside the Del Goodyear gym on the Culver City campus several players stepped up and played well for the Centaurs. Angel Morris led the scoring parade with 14, followed by Windy Yoon and Kate Suyetsugu who both had 11, Kailey Tooke had eight and Heaven Cooper scored seven. That’s the kind of balance scoring they will need in the playoffs.
Some of the senior players were happy and sad at the same time last Friday night. “I feel really sad because this was my last league game at home but I am really happy that we are going to probably win the Ocean league again,” said Tooke, a four year varsity player. “If we stay focus and don’t panic we should do well in the playoffs.”
Another senior who played three years of varsity basketball is center/forward Alexis Arancibia. She thinks the Centaurs are ready for the playoffs. “This team needs to take it one game at a time and if we do that we can really go far in the playoffs. We can’t get ahead of ourselves.”
Longtime assistant coach Tom Nakayama thinks defense is the key for this team to be successful in the playoffs and he also feels like there is another reason why the lady Centaurs have had five great seasons in a row. “Look around, what do you see? You see parents. I think that’s one of the main reasons we are so successful. We have great parent support.”