GIRLS: UNITY LEADS TO ROCK-SOLID FINISH LITTLEROCK OVERCOMES CONTROVERSY.Byline: VINCENT VINCENT Vital Information Necessary Centralized (movie, The Black Hole) BONSIGNORE AND RAMONA SHELBURNE Ramona Shelburne is an American sports journalist currently writing for the Los Angeles Daily News. Shelburne was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She attended El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, California where she was a class valedictorian. Staff Writers There isn't much on the line for the Littlerock girls' basketball team when it hosts Palmdale in the regular season finale For the music notation program, see . A finale (italian word) is a closing part, act or movement of a dramatic or musical composition, or more generally any event or procedure with a dramatically concluding effect. at 7:30 tonight. Littlerock is locked into a fifth-place finish in the Golden League, just one season after making the playoffs by finishing third. Some would call Littlerock's season - 5-17, 2-12 Golden - an underachievement. But the eight seniors who'll accept a rose and a hug from coach Sarah Adams in a pre-game senior night ceremony should hold their heads high. Despite all the losses and the controversy over the midseason firing of popular coach John Konrad, the team stuck together and finished strong. ``We all just tried to put our heads together and realize it's our last year and we need to give it all we've got,'' senior guard LaShanna Bridgeforth said. ``We don't have another opportunity to play next year. So we just want to make the best of To improve to the utmost; to use or dispose of to the greatest advantage. To reduce to the least possible inconvenience; as, to make the best of ill fortune or a bad bargain. - Bacon. See also: Best Best it, do it for each other, so we don't have to look back later and feel like we wasted our last year.'' The team has also found some respect - or at least appreciation - for Adams, who coached the junior varsity junior varsity n. Abbr. JV A high-school or college team that competes in interschool sports on the level below varsity. Noun 1. before Konrad's firing and took some criticism for taking the position instead of fighting to get Konrad reinstated. ``I'm glad she stepped up for us because we might not have even had a team without her,'' senior Annie Hunter said. ``She's a little more passionate about softball softball, variant of baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Invented (1888) in Chicago as an indoor game, it was at various times called indoor baseball, mush ball, playground ball, kitten ball, and, because it was also played by women, ladies' , because that was her sport, but she gives everything to everything she does. I was kind of angry people gave her a hard time. But she just stuck with it and never gave up on us.'' Adams, for her part, said the season has been challenging, but looked at it as an opportunity to become a stronger person. ``People tried to say things about me when I took the job, but I did it for the kids so they'd be able to keep playing,'' she said. Still, it was difficult enduring two weeks of criticism, or perhaps just the misplaced mis·place tr.v. mis·placed, mis·plac·ing, mis·plac·es 1. a. To put into a wrong place: misplace punctuation in a sentence. b. anger of players and parents surrounding the abrupt firing of Konrad on Jan. 18. Players pouted, parents complained to the media and the administration. There were even meeting to try to get Konrad reinstated. At times, Adams said she felt like a scab crossing a picket line. The players might have felt worse. Many considered quitting in protest. ``The timing of it was bad,'' Hunter said. ``We were losing before he was fired and this made things even worse.'' But nobody - not Adams, not Bridgeforth or any other player -actually quit. Basketball brought them together. ``It really made me appreciate basketball a lot more, because for a minute there, I was thinking I didn't want to play at all,'' Bridgeforth said. ``Everybody is out there expecting us to break down, fall apart, and I didn't want to let that happen.'' After losing its first six league games (three under Konrad, three under Adams), Littlerock beat Highland twice last week to climb out of last place. With just five wins this season, back-to-back victories are arguably ar·gu·a·ble adj. 1. Open to argument: an arguable question, still unresolved. 2. That can be argued plausibly; defensible in argument: three arguable points of law. Littlerock's highlight this season. But for senior guard Dominique Calvin, those victories aren't what she'll remember about her senior season. ``This has made me a stronger person,'' Calvin said. ``I wanted to quit at first. But I'm happy I didn't. If you quit once, it's easier to keep quitting on things. ...Basically, almost all of us are seniors and we had a couple of games left to play and have fun, so we all just dealt with it and did what we could. Everybody made up their minds that they were going to play for each other.'' Ramona Shelburne, (818) 713-3617 ramona.shelburne(at)dailynews.com BOYS: Teams eye second place Final games will determine playoff play·off also play-off n. Sports 1. A final game or series of games played to break a tie. 2. A series of games played to determine a championship. Noun 1. spots With one game remaining for teams in the Golden League, three schools still have a shot at finishing in second place. And all three face the potential of falling out of one of the top three spots in the league, thus losing a guaranteed playoff spot. Lancaster (12-12, 5-4), Highland (14-11, 5-4) and Palmdale (14-11, 5-4) all head into tonight's final regular-season games hoping for a second-place finish Noun 1. second-place finish - a finish in second place (as in a race) runner-up finish finish - designated event that concludes a contest (especially a race); "excitement grew as the finish neared"; "my horse was several lengths behind at the finish"; "the . Lancaster hosts Highland, while Palmdale hosts Littlerock. Both games are at 7 p.m. If Highland and Palmdale win, they will finish tied for second place, and a coin flip will determine the teams' seeding for the Southern Section Div. I-AA playoffs. The same scenario applies if Lancaster and Palmdale win. ``All we know is as long as we win, we make the playoffs,'' Lancaster coach Jesse Parker said. ``We also know a loss puts us in a bad situation. For us, (tonight) is a playoff game Noun 1. playoff game - one game in the series of games constituting a playoff game - a single play of a sport or other contest; "the game lasted two hours" playoff - any final competition to determine a championship .'' Because Palmdale is expected to beat Littlerock (4-17, 1-8), the Highland and Lancaster will treat their match-up as a must-win situation. If Palmdale wins, the loser (jargon) loser - An unexpectedly bad situation, program, programmer, or person. Someone who habitually loses. (Even winners can lose occasionally). Someone who knows not and knows not that he knows not. would fall into fourth place and face the difficult prospect of earning an at-large berth into the Div. I-AA playoffs. ``It's going to be tough getting in as at at-large in that division,'' Parker said. Lancaster, which struggled with consistency most of the year, caught a break this week when Palmdale beat Highland. Coupled with Lancaster's win over Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley , it created the tie for second place between Lancaster, Palmdale and Highland. Lancaster's 62-55 win over Antelope Valley ended a two-game losing streak and breathed new life into the Eagles' playoff chances. ``For the seniors on this team, I think they're starting to feel a sense of urgency,'' Parker said. ``The fact is, from this point on every game they play could be their last as high school players.'' Quartz quartz, one of the commonest of all rock-forming minerals and one of the most important constituents of the earth's crust. Chemically, it is silicon dioxide, SiO2. Hill (17-6, 8-1) secured the Golden League title last week. Lancaster beat Highland 74-64 on the road two weeks ago in the first meeting between the two teams. It was an important win at the time, but became even more pronounced when Palmdale beat Highland on Tuesday. The Bulldogs feature Tomoreo Allen, who averages a league-leading 30 points per game. Lancaster's top scorer is Chad Chad (chăd, chäd), Fr. Tchad, officially Republic of Chad, republic (2005 est. pop. 9,826,000), 495,752 sq mi (1,284,000 sq km), N central Africa. McDaniel. --Agape showdown: Antelope Valley Christian can secure the Agape agape In the New Testament, the fatherly love of God for humans and their reciprocal love for God. The term extends to the love of one's fellow humans. The Church Fathers used the Greek term to designate both a rite using bread and wine and a meal of fellowship that included League title with a home victory over Hesperia Christian at 7 p.m. Friday. The Eagles (18-6, 8-1) beat Bethel Bethel, in the Bible Bethel (bĕth`əl) [Heb.,=house of God]. 1 Ancient city of central Palestine, the modern Baytin, the West Bank, N of Jerusalem. Christian 61-35 Tuesday to keep pace with Hesperia Christian, which beat Apple Valley Christian 57-54 Tuesday. Antelope Valley Christian put itself into a must-win situation for the league title by losing two weeks ago to Apple Valley Christian. ``Sitting here thinking about it right now, I think it's good to face a game like this at this point,'' Antelope Valley Christian coach David Nurse said. ``You want that kind of edge going into the playoffs. I'd rather have to play a game like that then just a blowout-type game.'' Vincent Bonsignore, (818) 713-3612 vincent.bonsignore(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 2 photos, 5 boxes Photo: (1) Members of Littlerock include, clockwise clock·wise adv. & adj. Abbr. cw. In the same direction as the rotating hands of a clock. clockwise Adverb, adj in the direction in which the hands of a clock rotate from top row, La Shanna Bridgeforth, coach Sarah Adams, Brandiss Lewis, Donnika Monroe, Elaine Henriquez and Annie Hunter. (2) Carson Alvey and his Highland teammates need a win over Lancaster tonight to secure a Southern Section playoff spot. Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News Box: (1) TIME OUT (2) STANDINGS (3) COMING UP (4) BOYS: GAME OF THE WEEK (5) GIRLS: GAME OF THE WEEK |
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