Spartans exit early in CIF

The senior-laden La Cañada girls’ basketball team fell to Atascadero in the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division IV-AA playoffs, 53-51, on Saturday night.

The loss meant an early exit for the Spartans, who were ranked No. 4 in the division heading into the playoffs. They also broke the school record for most wins in a season with 24.

“We got a draw that we thought suited us well,” said La Cañada Head Coach Tamar Hill, “but unfortunately Shannon Denney didn’t make it back as quick as we thought [she would] to make a good playoff run. Atascadero is a good, tall team and without her inside, that hurt us.”

Hill took solace that even without Denney, La Cañada (24-4) made it a close game.

“It was a two-point game without our leading scorer and rebounder,” Hill said.

The Spartans were only able to muster 11 rebounds — or as many boards as Greyhounds’ Raven Taylor and Shannon Berwick had each. Atascedero had 31 rebounds total in the game, 11 were offensive.

However, the Spartans had more shots in the game. The Greyhounds shot 51% from the field, (21 of 41) to La Cañada’s 36% (17 of 47).

Tia Chen, in her final game as a Spartan, had 26 points in the game with four rebounds, three assists and four steals.

Courtney McCutchan, also a senior, had 18 points and four rebounds.

Taylor was the star for Atascadero (20-4) with 20 points, 11 boards and four steals.

Atascadero will play at Oak Park on Wednesday in the quarterfinals.

On Feb. 18, the Spartans beat Corona del Mar, 43-34, in the first round of the CIF playoffs for their school-record 24th win of the season.

Chen had 16 points and McCutchan had 13 rebounds.

The Spartans lose nine players to graduation this year, with Kristine Hossepian as the only returning starter.