LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE — In Saturday's battle between the girls' basketball teams from Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy and Flintridge Prep, the Rebels defended their homecourt quite literally.
Flintridge Prep's zone defense and aggressive pressure on the ball proved to be the difference in the nonleague meeting, which the Rebels captured, 51-40, in holding the Tologs to their lowest point total of the season.
"We've just been preaching defense and team, team, team," first-year Rebels Coach Kevin Kiyomura said. "We're 11 deep, so we're just going to keep coming after people on defense and just rebound the basketball. It's pretty simple."
Flintridge Prep (2-0) was led by 20 points from freshman guard Tala Ismail, who sank a pair of free throws with 1:27 left in the fourth quarter to give the Rebels a 48-40 lead. After a Rebels stop at the other end, Prep guard Maya Okamoto (11 points) iced the game with an offensive rebound with 42 seconds left.