Spartans facing tall Lions squad
Girls basketball Div. IV semifinal tonight at SHS
Strathmore High School’s girls basketball team is set for one of their toughest matchups of the season when they host third-seeded Kerman tonight at 6.pm in the CIF Central Section Division IV semifinal game.
“They’re a very, very good team,” said Strathmore head coach Richard Miranda. “And we’re probably going to have to play our best game of the season to stay with them.”
After defeating seventh-seed Orosi (23-8) 45-38 Thursday in the quarterfinals, the second-seeded Spartans began studying Kerman (26-5) and are already aware of some of their strengths.
The Lions have height in their center Alexia Torres and power forward Breanna Hurt who are each listed at 5-foot-11.
“[Hurt] can handle the ball and shoot the three,” said Miranda. “[Torres] takes up a lot of space. Our hands are going to be full.”
Kerman also has another center Morgan Turner who averages 9.1 rebounds a game and leads the team in rebounds and blocks. Hurt is the team’s leading scorer, averaging 13 points a game.
In the opening round Kerman beat 14th-seed Kingsburg (9-19) 63-43 and sixth-seeded Mcfarland (25-7) 76-51 in the quarterfinals.
The Spartans are coming off a 48-35 quarterfinal win where they took down seventh-seeded Orosi (23-8) and two players posted double-doubles.
Mariah Hernandez, Strathmore’s star player, finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds, while Kathy Rodriguez had 14 points and 10 rebounds. Having players other than Hernandez step up was important for the Spartans and will be key to them team advancing.
“I talked to [starters Valeria Romero, Sammy Oliveira and Kathy],” said Miranda. “I talked to them in a sense that those three gotta be productive. We will not win games in the playoffs if Sammy scores two, Kathy scores four and Val scores two. It’s just not going to happen.”
And after a humbling loss to top-seeded Sierra Pacific (25-4, 9-1 East Sequoia League)
to share the ESL championship, Strathmore (27-4, 9-1 ESL) is looking forward to defeating Kerman and possibly facing the Golden Bears in Fresno’s Selland Arena for the Valley title.
“After the Orosi game I asked them ‘What do we have left to get to our ultimate goal?,’” said Miranda. “And they said, ‘We have four quarters, 32 minutes.’ Exactly.”