Page 4 January 15, 2015 TORRANCE TRIBUNE STARS & STRIPES A M E R I C A N M A D E C L O T H I N G S T O R E COME CHECK US OUT! GREAT CLOTHING INCLUDING DENIM, HATS, BAGS, SHOES AND MORE 1107 Van Ness Ave.Torrance, CA 90501 • 310.320-3207 LEE 101 USA, WOOLRICH, SAVE KHAKI, MINNETONKA MOCCASIN, PENNY, JAN SPORT, DULUTH, REYN SPOONER, TRETORN, BALL, BURTON, STANCE, RAINBOW SANDALS, FILSON, TEVA, NEW YORK HAT, PADDY WAX, RICHER & POORER, SCHOTT USA, STRATHTAY Open Mondays through Saturdays Noon to 6pm Ladies’ Basketball Heating Up By Adam Serrao Photo by Peter Thornton While much of the national spotlight may not be on basketball just quite yet, the lady high school basketball players of Torrance have certainly been giving their fans something to watch. If you’ve missed out unto this point, reading about them will have to do, but an entire funfilled, competitive season still awaits for you to get out there, cheer on and see for yourself. One of those teams that you should make a point to see is the South High Spartans. The Lady Spartans have been dominant in just about every game they have played so far this season. In what is sure to be a highly competitive Pioneer League division this year, South will need every win that they can get. Last Friday night at South High, the Lady Spartans not only notched another win, but they dominated a league foe by a final score of 60-37. Winning is never an easy thing to do, especially inside of your own division. Games that are originally thought to have a chance at being easy, always turn out to be the toughest ones and games that are expected to be tough, turn into nail-biters. That’s why South’s 23-point victory over the Leuzinger Olympians in the first game of league play last week turned out to be so spectacular. “We wanted to come out strong and get our first win,” said senior starting point guard Jaryn Fajardo. “I think we came out as a team and our effort was definitely there.” Fajardo was right. While the game stayed neck-and-neck throughout the first quarter, the Lady Spartans began to really heat up in the second and beyond. Behind Fajardo’s game high 16 points and 12 rebounds and Kristy Takahashi’s 11 points and clutch long-range shooting, South found themselves up by 10 points at the half before they put things into cruise control. South head coach Bobby Imamura loved his team’s effort, but wasn’t too fond of some of the nonchalant mistakes made on the court. “We just preach effort and to play through your mistakes,” Imamura said. “I think that’s what we did today.” There was a point in the third quarter when, through turnovers and missed shots, the Lady Spartans let Leuzinger back into the game, leading by only a three-point margin. With great intensity and effort on the night, however, South was able to rally for an eventual huge fourth quarter and 23-point win. “We had great energy tonight,” Imamura continued. The girls were really pumped for their first league game.” It’s always good to get the first one out of the way and now the Spartans (13-3, 1-0) can shake off some of the nerves and prepare themselves for the second of the season that is to come. That second half will continue with a league rivalry matchup against the West High Warriors coming up next Friday. There’s no indication as to how the Pioneer League will end up this season, but the winner of that game will certainly give themselves a distinct advantage in the race for first place. West High If there’s one thing that we should all know about the West High Warriors ladies’ basketball team it is to never count them out. Last year’s champs, the Warriors are putting together yet another formidable season as they await their first divisional game that will take place this week. In the meantime, however, Jasmine Jones, Kayla Sato and head coach Mike Caporaso will look to rebound from tough loss at Bishop Montgomery and get themselves on the same page once again. The Lady Warriors fell down early vs. Bishop, receiving only four points in the first quarter. By the half, they found themselves down by 10 and a big third quarter by Bishop basically put the game out of reach. The real story of the week isn’t West’s loss to Bishop, however, but rather, their coming together as a team. After being out for some time due to injury, the Warriors have recently plugged Sato back into their lineup to go with Jones, who is averaging 16 points and almost 12 rebounds per game this year. With Sato back in the mix, the sky is the limit for this West High ball club. “Sato’s getting back into her rhythm and I’m proud of our team,” Jones said. “We got off to a slow start, but everyone is developing and coming together really well.” Jones, Sato and the Lady Warriors will look to bring it all together when they run up against their league rivals, North High, this Friday night at North. North High If you’re looking for the best team in the Pioneer League so far this season, look no further than the North High Saxons. At 12-1 so far this year with league play set to begin this week, the Saxons have only lost once to Championship Games Are Set By Adam Serrao The media can forget about comparing Peyton Manning to Tom Brady for yet another season in the National Football League. Andrew Luck came into town and ruined all of that fun for everyone. That may not be all that he ruined. Now it is Luck who is looking to make a name for himself after perhaps even putting an end to Manning’s historic career. Brady will still be there, waiting. The NFC has no shortage of drama, either. Last year’s Super Bowl champs, the Seattle Seahawks, are back in contention and look to be playing their best football of the year. If probable league MVP and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rogers has anything to say about it though, Seattle’s “Legion of Boom” may go pop. Though the outcomes are, of course, yet to be determined, the four best NFL teams are left still standing midway through January. The Super Bowl looms in the balance, but for now, there is still some very interesting football left to be played. Now that the championship games are set, we know that it will be the Indianapolis Colts vs. the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks against the Green Bay Packers. That is about all that we know, however. All four teams seem to be playing their best ball of the season. All four teams seem to be on a roll. Normally, at this time of year, it is the team that has the most momentum that goes on a run, takes down everyone in their way and hoists the Super Bowl trophy come early February. Picking that team out of this bunch would seem to be a rather tedious task. The Colts have the best young quarterback in the game on their side. That’s a good start to any sentence that is about the game of football. Coming off of a good game last Sunday night in Denver, Luck not only put together one of his first impressive road playoff performances of his career, but he knocked Peyton Manning out of playoff contention. His 265 yards and two touchdowns led the Colts to a 24-13 victory over Denver at Mile High Stadium, leading Indianapolis to its first conference championship game since Manning led the team there in January of 2010. “I think we’re playing good team ball,” Luck said of his squad. “We’re feeding off each other. Offensively we’re making enough plays to put some points on the board. Great night. So proud to be a part of this Colts victory.” While it was a great night for Luck and his Colts, Manning was left to consider his future in the game of football. In postgame interviews, he was noncommittal on the issue and offered only the promise that he would think about a return in the coming days, weeks and months. With his deep ball turning ever so inaccurate and his arm strength wavering, it may be beginning to look like the end of the line for Peyton. It will certainly be a top storyline this offseason. As usual, Brady waits in New England to play in the AFC championship game. The three previous years it’s been Manning that he’s faced, but now Luck has taken his place. The Patriots got down early in last Saturday’s game against the Ravens, but as most people figured, they came back and were able to pull out a 35-31 win at a 19 degree Gillette Stadium in Foxboro. The Patriots had success earlier in the year against the Colts. You might remember the game where Jonas Gray burst onto the scene with his franchise-record four-touchdown performance against the Indianapolis defense. While that certainly doesn’t figure to happen again, the Patriots, with a healthy Rob Gronkowski and a very hungry Tom Brady, may just be the closest thing to that team that is putting things all together at the exactly right time this year. The Packers will get ready to face Seattle and set up an encore performance to this year’s NFL season opener. While Rogers was battling a calf injury that clearly limited his mobility on the field, he seemed to find a way to get over it in the second half of last week’s game against the Dallas Cowboys. Rogers and the Packers rallied from eight points down, controversial calls aside, to defeat “America’s Team” by a final score of 26-21 last Sunday in Green Bay to advance to the conference title game for the first time in four seasons. Now they will get ready to face a Seattle team that whooped them in week 1 by a final score of 36-16. Now, Rogers and his Packers will look to go back into CenturyLink Field in Seattle and avenge their previous loss. “I’ll do everything I can to get ready to go to Seattle and play a great team,” said Rogers. Certainly a tough task that awaits. While the Packers remained unbeaten on the year at home this season (9-0 at Lambeau), the Seahawks will remain home after making quick work of Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers to welcome in Aaron Rogers. No one wants to play in Seattle. The 12th man is precisely that. The Seahawks and quarterback Russell Wilson are 25-2 at home since he took over at quarterback for the team and 8-1 this season. In week one Marshawn Lynch had his way with Green Bay, rushing for 110 yards and two touchdowns as Rogers declined to pass in the direction of Richard Sherman all game long. If the Packers want to win, Rogers will have to test the All-Pro cornerback this weekend in a game that will certainly feature two of the best all-around teams in the game. There is obviously no telling who will win the championship games this weekend and advance to the Super Bowl, but the two games certainly look to be as exciting as the rest of this fantastic NFL season has been so far up to this point. All four teams are rolling at the right time and while journalists normally refrain from making predictions and simply dissect the action, I will take the road less traveled. Tom Brady will simply be too much for the Colts defense and Darrelle Revis and the Patriots secondary will have at least one big interception in a New England victory. Green Bay and Seattle will be a close one that comes down to the end. Ultimately, Marshawn Lynch will show why he is one of the greatest running backs in the league. The 12th man and that vaunted Seattle defense will also prove to be too much for an otherwise immobile Rogers as the Seahawks make it back to the dance for the second year in a row. Super Bowl matchup: Patriots vs. Seahawks. • Culver City #11 M. Yoon faces off with Tartars #55 Ashley Sasaki. See Ladies’ Basketball, page 8
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