Dolphins Dominate City Final, Prepare for State Tournament

After winning the City finals Friday by beating South East at the Roybal Learning Center, the Dolphins are now setting their sights on the state tournament beginning Tuesday night.

Being a section champion, Palisades gets to host its first-round game against Alhambra Mark Keppel (27-2), a Southern Section Division 2A semifinalist, at 7 p.m.

If a victory in Friday night's City Section Division II championship game seemed like a foregone conclusion, the Palisades High girls' basketball team certainly didn't play like it. Instead, the Dolphins played with desperation and their efforts were rewarded in a 62-44 victory over South East at Roybal Learning Center.

Winning the Division II crown in dominating fashion as Palisades did only made head coach Torino Johnson wonder what might've happened had his team been in the Division I bracket where it clearly belonged. The question became even more relevant the following night when the Division I championship was won by Carson--a team the Dolphins defeated 60-55 in the finals of their own Palisades Beach Invitational on December 3.

"It hasn't sunk in yet," Johnson said, choosing to emphasize how far the girls have come since he took over the program in 2007-08. "It's an honor and a privilege to represent the City Section and the Western League. Looking at the brackets before the playoffs I thought we'd be 20 points better than anyone we played."

Palisades won its four playoff games by an average of 32.7 points and scored 284 points--an average of 71 points per contest. Friday's championship game was competitive, but the top-seeded Dolphins (24-9) led from start to finish. South East, the third place team in the Eastern League, never quit and cut its deficit to five points in the third quarter. That was as close as the sixth-seeded Jaguars (23-12) would get.

Johnson was not happy with the officiating, as Palisades was whistled for 10 fouls in the first half to the Jaguars' three.

"We didn't win because of them [the referees], let's put it that way," Johnson said. "I'll need to fill out a police report for what happened in the paint. Every time one of our players drove in there they got hacked."

Not even physical play or swallowed whistles could stop the Dolphins from scoring, however. Point guard Ashlie Bruner had 21 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals. Asia Smith had 14 points, Hayley Hutt had 12 and Skai Thompson added nine.

The Dolphins were equally dominant on the defensive end, especially forward Nicole Flyer, who finished with  nine rebounds and 14 blocks.

"They couldn't buy a bucket around her," Johnson said. "Nicole was awesome, but everyone contributed. Hayley [Hutt] did great job, Kseniya [Shevchuk] had a good all-around game and Asia [Smith] really sparked us."  

"We're happy we won our division, we enjoyed it for an hour, but we have more work to do," Johnson said. "We're not a typical City team that gets blown out [in state]. We want to upset some people. I can't wait for Tuesday." 

Boys Basketball

By reaching the semifinals of the City Section Division I playoffs, the boys team also earned a playoff berth. The Dolphins (18-13) will travel to top-seeded Long Beach Poly (29-1), the Southern Section Division 1AA winner, in the first round Tuesday at 7 p.m., with the winner taking on either Fresno Bullard or Eitwanda in the regional quarterfinals Thursday.