This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Sea Hawk Seniors Show Their Stuff in All-Star Game

Four members of Redondo Union's undefeated Bay League team compete with best from around the South Bay.

This season at Redondo Union, the Sea Hawk girls' basketball team relied upon a team-focused approach where everyone carried her own weight and individual exploits were put on the back burner.

So how would the four seniors selected for the South Bay Athletic Club All-Star Game handle a game with little structure and more flash? 

More than fine.

With the top seniors from the South Bay putting their talents on display, two teams were divided into blue and red.

Point guard Riki Murakami and forward Shayna Stuart competed on the victorious blue team who wore their home jerseys, while forwards Michelle Lowery and Ashiana Antar competed on the red team.

Antar, who was listed as a guard on the game's roster, decided to run with the idea, exhibiting a knack for perimeter late in the first quarter and scoring all of her six points in an impressive 6-0 first-quarter spurt.

A valuable reserve during the regular season, Antar made one of two free throws and then canned a long basket and followed it up with a three-pointer from the wing.

"It felt intense, even though it was an all-star game, and it was for fun," Antar said.

Playing unfamiliarly on opposite teams, Lowery wasted no time setting a solid screen on Murakami and was rewarded, receiving a pass on her roll to the basket and scoring to give the red team a 23-22 advantage early in the second quarter.

"It was a lot of fun, they wanted to win and so did we, but everyone had fun," Lowery said.

As the intensity of the friendly contest picked up in the games final period, so did Lowery's game scoring on back-to-back trips down the floor for the red team.

With 2:20 remaining in the game, Inglewood's Camille Baker stole a red-team pass and took it the length of the floor for a layup and a 63-59 lead for the blue team.

Janitah Iamalgava of Carson extended the blue lead to 65-59 after scoring off a brilliant pass from Murakami.

"It was all fun until the fourth quarter," Murakami said. "Everyone wanted to win at that point."

Lowery would knock down a turn-around jumper (nine points) with 1:16 left, but her red team would get no closer than four, falling 68-63.

Baker finished with a game-high 15 points for the blue team, with Mira Costa's Kylie Nakamine chipping in 12, also for the blue team.

Stuart, a lock-down defender all year for Redondo, said she was relieved that despite her intense defense during the regular season, her all-star teammates were happy to have her alongside them.

"I met a lot more friends this week.  I was thinking that I guarded a lot of these girls, but they were great and we had a lot of fun," Stuart said.

Murakami is the only Sea Hawk who is expecting to play in college as she is likely going to the University of Pacific to study sports science.

Stuart has not decided on playing in college as she has options, but she does expect to go into criminology.

Lowery is expected to head north to San Francisco State or East Bay University, and Antar will stay local, heading to El Camino college to begin her studies to become a nurse practitioner.

Redondo's four all-star representatives were the most of any high school.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?