Shalhevet proud to be the first Jewish school to win state crown
Yalee Schwartz of the Shalhevet girls basketball team fell to the floor in the second quarter, holding her face. The team's fans, players and coaches collectively held their breath.
Déjà vu was seemingly unfolding in front of them.
Schwartz — the team's best player — scored the first four points of last year's CIF State final before suffering an ankle injury just five minutes into the contest. She was sidelined the rest of the game, resulting in a Firehawks loss.
Naturally, it was hard not think, “Oh, no. Not again.”
But this time Schwartz popped up off the hardwood, walked over to coach Ryan Coleman as she was rubbing her eye and asked an important question.
“She asked me if her eye was red,” Coleman said. “I told her, `Yes, just like your hair.'”
In a repeat matchup against San Domenico, Schwartz paced Shalhevet with 21 points and 13 rebounds in a 50-46 victory in the Division IV title game at Golden 1 Center on Friday morning for the program's first CIF State championship.
Shalhevet is the first Jewish school to win a state basketball title.
“Last year we were the first school to ever make it to a CIF State final, now we are the first to win it,” Arielle Grossman said. “We know we are playing for much more than Shalhevet; we are playing for the Jewish community.”
Grossman was Shalhevet's second-leading scorer with 18 points, including four 3-pointers, and added 10 rebounds in a game that tells a different story when looking at the final box score. San Domenico outshot Shelhevet 65% to 31%, grabbed 15 offensive rebounds to Shalhevet's four, and outscored the Firehawks in three of the four quarters. Shalhevet also committed 24 turnovers.
Coleman summed up the key difference quickly.
“Yalee Schwartz was the difference,” he said. “She's a difference maker on both ends of the floor, and her quality of shots outweighed their quantity.”
Schwartz had last year's loss on her mind all season.
“I wanted this one real bad,” said Schwartz, who received “M-V-P!” chants from a group of Shalhevet fans when she was named the game's most outstanding player.
In four years at the helm, Coleman has taken the program to two CIF State finals, including Friday's redeeming victory over San Domenico, which beat the Firehawks 38-27 in the Division V final last year.
Coleman is a favorite among his coaching peers in the Los Angeles area. Harvard-Westlake boys basketball coach David Rebibo, whose team is playing tonight, came to watch Friday. Coleman is known for his dedication and hours of watching film into wee hours of the morning.
But how did he forge a state championship program from a school with 240 students so quickly?
“The team was so hungry for structure,” Coleman said. “The cohesion and chemistry was already there because these girls grew up together.”
Installing structure isn't easy, especially when it comes to high schoolers on the hardwood.
“We talk about roles, we talk about the value of roles, too,” Coleman said “Some girls are used to shooting all the time and dominating the ball, but I had to make them understand that playing defense, rebounding or distributing the ball has value. It's not just about scoring.”
One player that took on that lesson was Davina Benelyahu, who grew up in youth basketball handling the ball and scoring. Her role is different for Shalhevet, but the ability to morph into what the team needed helped the program achieve the ultimate goal.
“I love playing my role now,” said Benelyahu, who notched six points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals and played all 32 minutes. “And I really love passing the ball to Yalee and Arielle. They score and make the game easy for me.”
HarvardWestlake senior Brady Dunlap vividly remembers when he started dreaming of playing for a high school basketball state championship.
“I've wanted to play in a state championship since I was in kindergarten,” said Dunlap, the son of a college basketball coach. “I remember when I as a kid going to watch my dad's teams in the NCAA Tournament and even going to high school state championships when I was in North Carolina. Just having the opportunity is a dream come true.”
That dream will come to fruition when the Harvard-Westlake boys basketball team plays in the CIF State Open Division final against St. Joseph of Santa Maria (28-6) at the Golden 1 Center today at 8 p.m.
“We've been playing in big games all year. I think we're ready for the moment,” Dunlap said.
The Wolverines (32-2) earned their spot in every sense of the word by beating top-seeded Corona Centennial 80-61 on its home floor Tuesday night.
“That was the epitome of Harvard-Westlake basketball,” Dunlap said. “We've been training for eight months, a lot of long practices, conditioning and work in the weight room. It all came together that night.”
The win accomplished something no other team in Southern California achieved this season: a win over every team that was in the CIF Southern Section Open Division field. The Wolverines have wins over St. Bernard, West Ranch, Notre Dame