GARDEN GROVE, Calif. – The California girls high school basketball double-double machine was at it again and Harvard-Westlake of Studio City needed every bit of her effort against host Orangewood Academy.
After all was said and done, 6-foot-3 Stanford-bound Kiki Iriafen didn’t have just any double-double, the reigning Cal-Hi Sports State Junior of the Year had 22 points and 26 rebounds and Harvard-Westlake (12-2) held on at the end for a 55-53 victory.
“That’s what I do. I rebound,” said a smiling Iriafen after the game.
The game was close for the most part early on, and although Orangewood Academy led 17-16 at the end of the first quarter that would be the last lead the host Spartans would have in the game.
From there Harvard-Westlake went on a 12-0 run keyed by Iriafen and senior guard Melissa Zozulenko and Orangewood Academy never got closer than five points until there was less than a minute to play.
Zozulenko finished with 16 points with one three-pointer. Another Wolverines player that had a solid game despite only scoring two points was senior Krista Semaan. She added nine rebounds and five assists, with most of them coming on feeds to Iriafen. Senior Kimiko Katzaroff added six points and four assists.
To its credit, Orangewood Academy (5-3) never quit. Down 52-40 with three minutes left, they closed the game on a 13-3 run keyed by junior star Hannah Stines, but they ran out of time. Stines, who reportedly has offers from Colorado, Utah and Washington, had nine of the Spartans last 13 points and finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds, plus three assists and two steals. However, she only made one three-pointer and was held in check most of the game after Harvard-Westlake head coach Melissa Hearlihy switched off and had Iriafen defend her.
Two other girls scored in double figures for the Spartans. Senior Keyla Romo had 13 points and four steals, and 6-foot-2 senior post Aixchel Hernandez, who reportedly has offers from Cal State-Long Beach and Northern Colorado, added 11 points and seven rebounds
The game was winnable for Orangewood Academy, but on a team that is usually pretty good from the charity stripe, in this game the Spartans missed 12-of-20 free throws.
“The positive from this game is you’re not going to face a team that executes like Harvard-Westlake and plays defense as hard as they do and have a chance to win the way we played,” said Orangewood Academy head coach Leslie Aragon. “It’s tough to win giving Kiki a 20-20 and missing 12 free throws."
Hearlihy didn’t just acknowledge the scoring and rebounding of Iriafen, but also about her defense on Stines once she made the switch.
“Hannah didn’t get to take the shots (she) wanted to take,” said Hearlihy, the state No. 2 all-time winningest coach who notched career win No. 774 in the victory. “I felt like if we could frustrate her (Stines) and her ability to create and do what she likes to do, it would be a key and Kiki did a great job on her.”
“Kiki in the paint, she was almost unstoppable,” continued Hearlihy.
The next three teams that will try to stop Iriafen this week are Notre Dame-Sherman Oaks, Palisades and Glendora.
Orangewood Academy will try to regroup against Fairmont Prep and state No. 1 Mater Dei on the road in Santa Ana are next up this week.
