split

Dear Family and Friends:

Riki’s Redondo Union High School team split their first two games in the Gahr (Cerritos) tournament, defeating Huntington Park 51-39 in the first round and losing to Long Beach Jordan 39-43 in the second game. Riki scored 3 and 7 points respectively and has played 75-85% of the games. In the Jordan game, Riki’s late three-pointer with 20 seconds left made it exciting (she also had a driving layup just fall out) but they still fell short, unfortunately.

Redondo’s third game is Monday, 12/29 at 3 p.m. vs. St. Mattias of Downey. If they win on Monday, they will play at 4:30 on Tuesday (1:30 if they lose).

Also, Redondo’s team was featured in last week’s Beach Reporter and Riki was part of a nice lead photograph. I have attached copies of the photo and article. (One correction: the article cites Riki as one of Redondo’s two returning varsity players… she isn’t. Unfortunately, the player who is returning wasn’t identified.)

http://www.tbrnews.com/articles/2008/12/29/sports/sports1.txt

Thank you for your continuing support of Riki!

new uniforms

Riki’s Redondo Union team takes the court again after a week of practice and will be sporting their brand new uniforms on Friday, December 26 at 6 p.m. in the Gahr (Cerritos) Holiday Classic. Redondo’s opening opponent is Huntington Park.

Gahr High School
11111 Artesia Blvd Cerritos CA 90703

Redondo is still trying to find a solid rotation from a roster of 15 girls not to mention finding consistent offensive production en route to a 3-5 record so far. Riki continues to start at point, averaging about 3.5 points per game.

Redondo has won CIF championships in girls basketball under Coach Marcelo Enriquez in 2000, 2002, 2005, and 2008 so we believe it to be cyclical (hoping for a title in 2011, Riki’s senior season).

Happy Holidays!

Battle @ the Beach

Riki’s Redondo Union High School team (3-3) faces a tough challenge today at 3:30 p.m. in a 5/th place semifinal for the Redondo “Battle @ the Beach” versus Santa Monica (who lost a nail biter to Long Beach Millikan on Wednesday). In the event, Redondo loses, they will play the loser of the Bishop Montgomery/Palos Verdes game on Saturday at 1:30. If they pull a major upset, they play the winner of that game at 5:00 for fifth place. The championship game will feature the winners of the Inglewood/Vista del Lago (Moreno Valley) and the South Torrance/Millikan semifinal winners). A surprise visitor to Wednesday’s game was WNBA and USC star Lisa Leslie (her niece plays for Inglewood).

Riki has started all six games at point and is averaging about 20-25 minutes/game (out of 32). She is averaging about 3 points a game with a high of 9 points. More significantly, she has taken 7 charges in six games (and has gotten up each time she was knocked down!) Her defense and overall court leadership earned her the Redondo coach’s “All Tournament” recognition in the Colony tournament last week in Ontario where they finished 2-2.

Needless to say, we’re very proud of her and her ability to step up at this level. If she remains healthy, she should have a good three seasons of high school ball.

Following the Redondo tournament, they have a break from competition until the Gahr tournament that begins on December 26th.

Colony (Ontario) Tournament

Dear friends, family and fans:

After a long summer and fall, full of the usual bumps and bruises and some unexpected growing pains (for the Redondo basketball program), Riki will begin her official varsity career today in the Colony (Ontario) Tournament against Chino Hills at 4:30 p.m. The tournament continues through Saturday, but game times are subject to winning or losing. Unless there are some unseen changes, Riki will start at point guard (whew!).

Redondo is picked to place third in the Bay League by the Daily Breeze, the South Bay’s local paper and unlikely to continue their streak of four Bay League titles. There is an article in today’s paper which can be viewed at www.dailybreeze.com. Riki gets mentioned along with half the team (which is majority sophomores and freshmen).

Redondo hosts its own tournament, the third-annual “Battle at the Beach” next week starting on Monday. Redondo opens against Westchester on Monday at 6:30 p.m. (full brackets attached) The tournament features some top-ranked teams in the area including Inglewood, Santa Monica, and A.B. Miller (from the inland empire) and continues through Saturday, December 12th. (If you stop by anytime Wed through Sat, you will probably find me at or near the snack bar). If you need to find out Riki’s schedule, please give me a call.

Thanks for all the support!