ALEMANY WINS TITLE; KOBAYASHI TRUE TO WORD IN REGIONAL : ALEMANY 50, HARVARD WESTLAKE 45.Byline: Chris Branam Daily News Staff Writer She awoke a·woke v. A past tense of awake. awoke Verb a past tense and (now rare or dialectal) past participle of awake early Saturday morning, much earlier than she would have liked and trudged off to do a cable show on local sports. Kelli Kobayashi was still wiping the sleep out of her eyes when someone asked her how she and the rest of the Alemany High girls' basketball team was stepping in the way of Harvard-Westlake's bid for a title in the Wolverines' first trip to the state playoffs. Something clicked inside Kobayashi. ``She said, `That's fine, they can want us all they want, because we're going to win tonight,' '' said Alemany coach Melissa Hearlihy, who was sitting next to her standout player. ``I had never heard her say something with such conviction.'' Hours later, Kobayashi proved true to her word. Alemany earned its first trip to a state final by beating rival Harvard-Westlake 50-45 Saturday night in the Southern Regional Division III
Division III (or DIII) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association of the United States. championship game at The Pyramid pyramid, structure pyramid. The true pyramid exists only in Egypt, though the term has also been applied to similar structures in other countries. Egyptian pyramids are square in plan and their triangular sides, which directly face the points of the on the campus of Long Beach State. The Indians (27-6) had lost in two previous regional finals, in 1992 and '94. The state Division III final takes place Saturday at 1:15 p.m. at ARCO Arena Current arenas in the National Basketball Association Western Conference Eastern Conference in Sacramento. Sacred Heart The Sacred Heart is a religious devotion to Jesus' physical heart as the representation of the divine love for humanity This devotion is predominantly used in the Roman Catholic Church and also used in the Anglican Church. Cathedral Prep and Acalanes played late Saturday night for the Northern Regional championship. ``I never dreamed of getting this far,'' said Kobayashi, who uncharacteristically un·char·ac·ter·is·tic adj. Unusual or atypical: an uncharacteristic display of anger. un made just 5 of 22 shots and had only one assist. But Kobayashi did everything in the final 6 minutes, 15 seconds expected of a four-year starter. Harvard-Westlake (28-6) had scrapped its way back from a seven-point deficit to cut the lead to four, 37-33. Kobayashi, who struggled from the floor in the first half, made a 3-pointer to push the lead back up to seven. With 5:32 left, Kobayashi made one of her four steals. With four minutes left, Kobayashi drove the dagger into the Wolverines' collective heart with a long 3-pointer from the top of the key to give the Indians a 45-35 lead. ``Kelli can shoot,'' Harvard-Westlake coach Brian Taylor Brian Taylor (born April 10, 1962), is a former Australian rules footballer and now AFL commentator. Playing career The moustachioued Taylor, known as "Barge", "Bristle" or "BT", began his VFL career with Richmond in 1980, and had the misfortune of being a full-forward at said. ``She hit a couple of 3's that hurt us, badly.'' Then, of course, were the two free throws with 17.8 seconds left to give Alemany a 50-43 lead. The celebration began shortly after. Kobayashi said she came into the game with a win-at-all-costs attitude. ``I had that mentality men·tal·i·ty n. The sum of a person's intellectual capabilities or endowment. the whole game,'' she said. ``But I wasn't hitting at all in the beginning.'' Hearlihy, who now has 299 victories in 13 seasons as the Indians' coach, said that Kobayashi ``controlled the ball in the end when we needed her to.'' It was a different story in the first half. Harvard-Westlake, which scored just one basket in the first quarter, exploded ex·plode v. ex·plod·ed, ex·plod·ing, ex·plodes v.intr. 1. To release mechanical, chemical, or nuclear energy by the sudden production of gases in a confined space: for 22 points in the next eight minutes. The Wolverines went on a 10-0 run to take a 22-16 lead. ``We just made a few shots,'' Taylor said, describing the Wolverines' turnaround. ``I think that was the difference between the first and second quarter.'' Alemany freshman Karina Siam helped keep the Indians in the game with 15 of her game-high 19 points in the half. Kate Beckler, a sophomore guard, had a season-high 16 rebounds and also scored 14 points. ``(Alemany) deserves it,'' Harvard-Westlake's Corrie Roberts said. ``Either team could have walked out of here happy.'' CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO (Color) Alemany's Julie Mullins, left, tries to take the ball from Harvard-Westlake's Omelogo Udeze. John Lazar John Lazar was Mayor of Adelaide from 1855 to 1858. John LaZar (born May 22, 1946) is a classically trained American actor of both stage and screen. / Special to the Daily News |
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