Sprightly Rolling Hills Prep rising to challenges
Rolling Hills Prep is young this season.
There is one senior (Sinqua Walls Jr.) on the roster, one sophomore in the starting lineup (Kawika Suter) along with two freshmen (Nick Welch Jr. and Terell Hopkins).
Yet the Huskies will head into next week's Dwan Hurt Holiday Classic, hosted by Serra, with a 10-1 record.
“We're getting more consistent in different areas and on both sides of the ball,” RHP coach Harvey Kitani said. “A lot of time with youth, consistency is the issue. Our goal is to keep getting better, and by the time February gets here, to try and be as good as we can be.”
The Huskies will certainly be tested. Aside from the Dwan Hurt Classic, the team will also be at the Damien Classic (Dec. 26-30) and the Huntington Park Tournament, along with games against Etiwanda, Bosco Tech and Servite.
“I like the fact that we can play a variety of ways,” Kitani said. “They're young kids, but they have great potential and ability and we have to make sure we play smart and correctly and use those skills.”
Junior Mateo Trujillo leads the Huskies at 15.6 points a game. Welch, Hopkins and Suter are all averaging at least 10 points a game. Trujillo, who scored 28 points with eight rebounds in Thursday's 59-43 win over LACES, has developed as the on-floor leader.
“Smart kid,” Kitani said. “He probably played his best game against LACES.” DWAN HURT HOLIDAY CLASSIC » The sixth annual tournament kicks off Monday with the Blue Division, which will move to Lawndale for play Wednesday and Friday.
The Red Division will be played at Serra Tuesday through Friday, with the final set for Saturday, with RHP, Leuzinger, Serra and Narbonne highlighting the local teams.
LEUZINGER DEFEATS DOMINGUEZ » Leuzinger improved to 4-2 with a 61-43 win over Dominguez. Joshua Garland led the Olympians with 15 points. Malachi Knight and Darian Henry both scored 14 points. REDONDO, ST. BERNARD HEADED TO LAS VEGAS » St. Bernard will be in the Platinum Division of the Tarkanian Classic, starting Monday. The Vikings will face The Branson School Monday at 9 p.m. at Bishop Gorman High.
Redondo is in the Ball Dawgs Division. The Sea Hawks will face O'Dowd on Monday night, also at Bishop Gorman.
Girls basketball
South Torrance snapped a 22-game losing streak against West on Friday with a 48-33 win.
The last previous win for the Spartans over the Warriors came all the way back in the 2009 season.
Peninsula defeated Wiseburn Da Vinci 62-17 Friday. Kayla Punsalan scored 20 points with 10 assists, and Taylor Yee had 18 points for the Panthers.
Katara Chang added nine points and six steals, Tegan Park had four assists, and Lyzel Dudikoff had eight rebounds.
BISHOP MONTGOMERY HEADED TO ARIZONA » The Knights will be competing in the Nike Tournament of Champions starting Monday. The Knights will be competing in the
Joe Smith Division, opening up against Hamilton (Ariz.) Monday morning. REDONDO HEADING INTO CONSECUTIVE TOURNAMENTS » The Sea Hawks will be at the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions (Dec. 21-23). The week after Christmas, they will be in Orange County at the Larry Doyle Winter Classic (Dec. 26-29). TURNAROUND SEASON IS UNDERWAY » As the schedule heads into league play, there are two teams that have turned things around and will be interesting to watch going forward.
Last season, the Lawndale girls team finished 1-17 overall and 0-12 in the Pioneer League. This season, the Cardinals are 6-7 overall.
Palos Verdes went 3-20 last season, 3-16 the year before that and 2-12 before that. Heading into the weekend, the Sea Kings are 11-0 this season.
PV is currently the topranked team in the CIF Southern Section Division 4A poll.