By Riley Segal
Staff Writer
Photos by Thomas Forman
The girls’ varsity basketball team celebrated Senior Night with a decisive 58-30 victory over Temple City at home on Tuesday, February 9. The win allows the Tigers to maintain their second place standing in Rio Hondo and puts their league record at 7-2 and overall record at 13-6.
The Rams struck first with an early basket, but South Pas followed with a ten point run to give itself the lead. Juniors Jade Lin and Juliana Tom contributed to this effort, with Lin sinking a three after a steal from Tom. Temple City struggled to find the basket through the Tiger defense, resorting to many three point attempts, most of which missed. Senior Kristen Kakfkaloff also created many offensive opportunities in her final home league game. Lin scored a last-second basket to end the quarter at 17-11.
Junior Jalynne Li quickly scored coming into the second quarter, muscling through Temple City’s defense. K. Kafkaloff, Li, Lin, and Tom provided a majority of South Pas’ points. The Rams were unable to penetrate the Tiger defense, which limited Temple City to one basket that quarter. The half would finish at 30-13 after a missed three pointer from the Rams.
South Pas maintained its high-caliber playing style coming back into the second half. Temple City was unable to reach the Tigers’ level, and turned to physicality instead. Kafkaloff was fouled early on, and sophomore Tiffany Holmes was sent sprawling across the court. However, South Pas took advantage by sinking many of the given free throws. Freshman Lauren Kafkaloff also garnered several baskets off of layups in the third quarter. Towards the end of the quarter, Lin would be taken off the court due to her knee injury and would not return for the rest of the game. The third quarter would finish at 45-23.
Kafkaloff, K. Kafkaloff, and Tom fueled the Tigers’ lead, amassing several points each. The Rams were unable to reduce deficit of points, and were only able to score a few times. South Pas continued to be fouled, and put away its free throws to strengthen its lead. Li ran out the clock to finish the game at 58-30.
Following the game, K. Kafkaloff, the only senior on the team, was honored by her teammates. Li, Lin, and Tom gave a speech about her while the rest of the Tigers presented her with gifts.
“I can’t really believe that I’m here right now. These four years have just flown by,” K. Kafkaloff said. “I loved playing with my team every year, and I truly love this sport. These memories will never go away.”
The Tigers’ final league game is away at Monrovia on Thursday, February 11 at 5:15 p.m. South Pas looks to keep second place spot by improving its league record to 8-2 and overall record to 14-6. The squad previously beat the Wildcats 62-57 in the two teams’ first matchup.
