With George Laase

Four Culver City High School teams recorded victories over Hawthorne last Tuesday.

Girls soccer, girls basketball, boys soccer and boys basketball prevailed.

All four Centaurs teams hope to repeat against Beverly Hills tonight.

Culver City will play three home games against Beverly Hills — girls basketball and boys soccer team both start playing at 6. (Also at 6, the girls soccer team plays at Beverly Hills.)

Finally at 7:30, the boys basketball team will host the first-place Normans in the Del Goodyear Gym. 

Only one of the four Culver City teams is guaranteed a CIF playoff berth, the Lady Centaurs in basketball. They are undefeated in the Ocean League (9-0) and 16-9 overall.

If they beat Beverly Hills, they will complete their fourth consecutive unbeaten league schedule.

The winning streak almost ended last week against El Segundo last week.  Culver City won in the final minute.

 “It was a really good game,” said assistant coach Tom Nakayama. “El Segundo was sky high.  It reminds me how everyone pointed to UCLA in the John Wooden days when they were top.  Now we have that target on our backs.  We need to just keep playing hard.” 

The girls head basketball coach is not satisfied.  “I want our team to play tough,” said Julian Anderson, “with a chip on the shoulder.  They need to get mean.  We need to keep playing at a higher level, not down to the competition.” 

Anderson is happy with the play of point guard Lindsey Tanita and shooting guard Megan Yoon.  “Lindsey is extremely important to our team,” he said. “Our coach on the floor.  Megan has stepped up her game, especially after all of the injuries we have had.”

The girls soccer team is running third in league at 5-4, 11-7-2 for the season.  They expect to be in the playoffs next week after an 0-3 start. “I am really proud of our girls,” said coach Scott Mair.  “We have been playing well the past few weeks. Everything has come together. If we keep playing at a high level, we should make the playoffs.  Injuries will be important in the playoffs.  That is why you need to play a lot of girls during the regular season so when you are in the playoffs everyone is ready to go.”

Defensive fullback Samantha Simon hopes her team continues in a positive direction.  “We are playing a lot better than we did at the beginning of league,” said Simon. “We will keep it going as long as we stay confident.”

Although all of the girls have played well, coach Mair said Amanda (AJ) Jaramillo, Megan Gerez, and co-captain Tatiana Estrada have elevated their game.

The fourth-place boys soccer team, 3-5-1 in league, have an outside chance of making the playoffs if they win today. They are 7-10-2 for the season.

The boys basketball team needs a miracle when they take their 2-7 record against league-leading Beverly Hills. With a win,  they may gain an at-large bid.  The Centaurs are 9-16 on the season.

Mr. Finley may be contacted at sfinley50@aol.com

Mr. Laase may be contacted at GMLaase@aol.com