Seventh-seeded Culver City High School girls’ varsity basketball team (first place in Ocean League, 23-4 overall) will play Sunbelt League at-large Elsinore (8-11 overall), on Saturday, 7 p.m., at the Del Goodyear gym in the first round of the division 2A playoffs.
The winner will play Wednesday, Feb. 26, 7 p.m. against either 10th seeded Eisenhower (20-5, Citrus Belt League, second place) or Moreno Valley (11-9, River Valley League, third place).
The last Ocean League loss sustained by the Centaur girls basketball team was on Feb. 11, 2011 and has been followed by three undefeated seasons and a 30-0 league run for the Lady Centaurs since then.
“Attention to detail,” Coach Julian Anderson, who is on his fourth year as a varsity coach, remarks as the team’s reason for success. “One thing about this group is that they like each other’s company. It makes it easy to be around each other on a daily basis.”
Senior Kelsey Ueda, a fouryear- starter, agrees with Anderson’s assessment.
“We definitely have chemistry, no doubt,” Ueda said. “I have fun with everybody on the team.”
Senior Michelle Curry benefited from this loving nature of the team as she was taken in after she transferred from St. Bernard at the beginning of the school year.
“I adjusted pretty well,” Curry said. “It feels like they accepted me.”
During the past three seasons, multiple players have overlapped. However, assistant coach Mark Kitabayashi believes that this year’s biggest change is that the team has “a dominant post presence.”
“The addition of [Curry] has added a dimension to our offense that we did not have on the other two teams – a refined post game coupled with physical strength,” Kitabayashi said. “[Curry]’s inside game coupled with our outside shooters give our offense a lot of options.”
This will be Culver City’s first year playing in the 2AA division, as it has been bumped up after reaching the finals last year.
“It certainly gives Julian and me a sense of satisfaction that our girls have achieved this accomplishment. It is a testament to their hard work and dedication,” Kitabayashi said. “However, at the same time it’s only a means to an end. Our goal every year is to make playoffs and do well.”
“I’m very happy for our players, school, and community,” Anderson said. “It’s been exciting to be a part of something this big.”