She might have been feeling the butterflies inside, but on the outside Kayla Tanijiri looked cool as a cucumber, calmly sinking two free throws with nine seconds left to clinch Birmingham’s 61-57 road victory over Granada Hills in a West Valley League girls basketball showdown Monday night.
Tanijiri finished with a game-high 25 points, none more important than the last two, as the Patriots (23-3, 8-0) extended their league winning streak to 32 games and are on the verge of their third straight league crown.
“I definitely get nervous… how can you not when there are 100 people screaming at you?” said Tanijiri, a sophomore guard who also had six assists, five rebounds and four steals in the teams’ first encounter since Jan. 21 in Lake Balboa, also a four-point Patriots win. “I tell myself I’m a good free-throw shooter, I’ve done it a thousand times before and take deep breaths.”
Kiara Wakabi added 12 points and grabbed a crucial offensive rebound after a missed free throw by Lacey Wilkins with 25 seconds left with her team up by three points. Birmingham capitalized on its extra possession as Tanijiri got fouled and hit the second of two free throws to make it a four-point margin.
Mia Corona’s layup pulled the host Highlanders within 59-57 with 10 seconds left but Tanijiri was fouled intentionally on the inbounds pass and made the clutch free throws that kept the Patriots in contention for the top seed in the City Section Open Division playoffs. They have not lost to a section opponent all season.
“Our coach did a terrific job preparing us, showing us their plays and how to guard them,” Tanijiri said of the Patriots’ Victor Koopongsakorn, who took over the program in 2015 and has guided it to Open Division titles in 2022 and 2024.
Wilkins and fellow freshman Belinda Hernandez-Santiago each added eight points for Birmingham, which scored the first seven points of the game and built a 10-point lead. Isabella Valvidia’s three-pointer at the buzzer cut the Highlanders’ deficit to five at the end of the first quarter.
Birmingham led by six at halftime and maintained that margin through three quarters, but Granada Hills crept to within 57-55 on Alana Yeck’s steal and jumper in the lane with 1:30 left.
Granada Hills guard Isabella Valvidia scores two of her 10 points against Birmingham on senior night.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
All-City forward Araceli Gonzalez, one of nine Granada Hills seniors honored before tip-off, scored 14 of her team’s first 21 points but was held to four points in the second half. She finished with 18 points and nine rebounds, Yeck had 11 points, Valvidia had 10 and Jordyn Spidel-Rodgers added eight.
“For any team, league is the biggest part of the season besides the playoffs,” Tanijiri said. “When you’re the two-time defending league champs you take pride in that and you don’t want to give it away.”
Granada Hills (18-8, 6-2) handed the Patriots their last league defeat, 64-53, on Jan. 25, 2023 en route to its last league crown.