The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly is sponsored by Bryson Financial
The562’s coverage of Jordan Athletics is sponsored by former LBUSD superintendent Chris Steinhauser.
With the CIF-SS playoffs just over the horizon, there’s no better time to be playing your best basketball. And for the Long Beach Poly girls’ basketball team, they know that time is now.
The Jackrabbits cruised to yet another league victory on Friday, beating Jordan 54-32 as Poly has now won 196 consecutive Moore League games with three left to play in the 2024 regular season.
“We’ve really been stressing that our last games are behind us and these next three games are playoff prep,” said Poly coach Carl Buggs. “So we have to start playing in a playoff type of mode for us to have a chance to be successful. The kids have seemed to buy in and take it to the game.”
Poly found success Friday night from the opening tip, as the Jackrabbits jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead to open the first. Jazmyne Shamburger closed out the quarter with five straight points to give her team a 16-4 advantage after the first eight minutes.
The Jackrabbits continued their dominant performance in both the second and third quarters, as two runs of 14-4 and 11-3 to open their respective quarters helped Poly grow their lead.
Poly’s Bailey Pruitt led all scorers with 13 points, while Brooklyn Taylor added 11 points to go alongside Andrea Perkins’ eight.
“This game was big,” said Pruitt. “We played as a team and that’s how we won. For me, I was just focusing on rebounding and going back up with the ball to be aggressive.”
While Poly flashed their capabilities on the offensive side of the ball, Buggs said it was the defense that was key for his team as the Jackrabbits’ defense will continue to be an important factor down the final stretch of the season.
“(Defense) is gonna have to be a big key for us,” said Buggs. “Being able to pressure teams without fouling, putting them on the line, and not getting beat. Our goal today was to try and have their main ball handlers not handle the ball as much and I think that worked out tonight for us in our favor.”
Poly will close out their league schedule with Lakewood on Monday before taking on Cabrillo on Tuesday and Millikan on Thursday.
For Jordan, the loss doesn’t hinder the Panthers playoff hopes as J-Town sits comfortably at third place in the Moore League behind Poly and Lakewood. Jordan will get another shot at Lakewood in the regular season finale on Thursday, after hosting Wilson on Tuesday.
J-Town is ranked No. 3 in the latest CIF-SS Division 3A rankings, setting them up for a potential playoff run once agaIn. The Panthers reached the Division 4AA quarterfinals a season ago.
