Garfield “Lady Bulldogs” Crowned D-1 Champs!

Note From The Editor: The 2015-16 Girl’s Varsity Basketball season is now over for the “Lady Bulldogs”  of Garfield High School, but that winning feeling of knowing you’re a Champion still lives on in the minds, hearts, and bodies of all 14  rostered players, the coaching staff, the student managers, administrators, and the entire student-body. This season’s  special team set a new bar to reach and became the highest of standard bearers, as the program continues its upward spiral under Head Coach, Jessica Torres. Please read our story on the Lady Bulldogs’ run to winning their second City Championship in a row. Last year, 2015, it was in Division II. This year it was in Division I. A highly spectacular achievement in itself. One, we would argue, that deserves a close review of the L.A. City Section’s record books — two consecutiive City Titles in two different Divisions!!  Lastly, we also urge you to view the team’s full season of statistics on Maxpreps.Com  by clicking here.

                      Garfield Defeats Westchester In Overtime To Capture                                                  L.A. City Section’s Division I Championship, 58-55

Make no mistake about it! The Garfield High School “Lady Bulldogs”  are for real, plus, they are a force to be reckoned with for the foreseeable future in L.A. City Schools Girls Varsity Basketball. In a re-classification move from Division II to Division I by the L.A. City Section/CIF Front Office, after they won the 2014-15 Division II Championship, Head Coach, Jessica Torres  and her entire team, led by Senior, Monica Garcia,  made their statement and brought home the Division I title on March 5th  to win the L.A. City Schools Championship. We’ll inform you as soon as we get a confirmed date on when they will ceremoniously unfold the coveted banner in their home gymnasium during the 2016-2017 season.

In the title game, point guard Monica Garcia  was unstoppable as she lit the nets on fire with 30  points. She was joined in double digits scoring by Candy Perez  as she dropped in 16.  The Bulldogs dispatched Sylmar  and Narbonne  in the 1st & 2nd Rounds, and then faced off with Westchester  at Cal State Dominguez Hills in the Final. Again, we offer our Congratulations to Coach Torres, her Coaching Staff, and the entire team on a most memorable and highly successful season! It’s not very common to see a team go from a lower Division to a higher one and win successive “back-to-back”  titles. It’s time for the Pride of East L.A. to stand up and take a long, proud, and respectable bow!!

We include Head Coach, Jessica Torres’  end of season remarks on this year’s team….”We were very blessed this year. This team wasn’t supposed to be this good, and no one thought we were contenders. But with our hard work and dedication in the off-season, we accomplished our goal. ‘I told them that we were not just a one championship type of program, but that we are a true Championship program, and we needed to prove that on a consistent basis. I also drilled it into their heads, that one championship wasn’t enough, and that last year’s accomplishment was not this year’s team accomplishment. If they wanted to claim a 2015-16 championship, then they needed to win it. In such a short timeframe, we went from not having won any Boys or Girls basketball championships, to winning “back-to-back” L.A. City Schools titles.'”

“In addition to our team success, I was honored with the the L.A. City Section’s “Coach of the Year” Award and the CIF’s “Model Coach” Award  recognitions. I couldn’t be more happy to see that a program, which doesn’t recruit, and plays with their community kids, is finally being recognized for staying true to our community and winning city titles. This was my goal as a former Garfield alum and I’m extremely proud of what we have accomplished together as a team.”

EastLASportsScene.Com,  also takes time to acknowledge and recognize Monica Garcia  as Garfield’s “Player of The Year.”  In 32 games played this season, the Senior Captain averaged 20.2 pts per game/2.2 assts per game/3.3 rebs per game/1.9 steals per game/.09 blocks per game. There will undoubtedly be several more awards coming to Monica for having such an outstanding senior year. We wish her well and hope that she earns a full scholdarship to play at the NCAA’s college/university level.

Finally, to close out the 2015-16 season, and as a reward for their D-I Championship run, the #9 seeded “Lady Bulldogs”  advanced to the 1st Round of the State Tournament’s Division III  and were matched against the #8 seeded Mark Keppel “Lady Aztecs”  at their gym. The Aztecs came out with their high-powered offense and showed why they have become a dominant Southland program, defeating the Bulldogs by a final score of (61-48).  Nonetheless, and in looking back, let it be said that it was still an abundantly great year!! Congrats to our undefeated Eastern League Champions  (12-0) and our L.A City Section Division I Champions  from Garfield High School!!   Rico Cabrera, Sr./Managing Editor, EastLASportsscene.Com

Credits:  Maxpreps.Com; Memorable Images; & Zaylei Serna, Garfield High School, Student-Athlete

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 Remebering Our Female Veterans: We continue with our on-going salute to our female military veterans and wish to thank them for their service and their dedication to the protection and welfare of our country. We will always depict our veterans in our photo galleries.