Girls’ Basketball: Anderson standing tall for CdM
Corona del Mar High junior Krista Anderson sees a lot of Mark Decker these days.
On the basketball court, Decker is her coach. In the classroom, Decker is her AP Psychology teacher.
“It’s kind of weird, because like I see him a lot,” Anderson said. “It’s fine. The class is fun, and it’s a good time.”
It doesn’t take a psychologist to figure out what was bothering Anderson, a center, early in the Sea Kings’ season. She played through a lot of pain, the result of shin splints.
Anderson helped the Sea Kings win the CdM Tip-Off Tournament and make the Ayala Tournament title game, but her play was inconsistent by her own admission.
“I thought the Ayala tournament, I had certain games where I would play well and other games where I wouldn’t,” Anderson said. “It wasn’t as consistent as it has been lately. It was just annoying and really frustrating to me. It really made me not like basketball. I was more mad at myself and upset, and I just didn’t even want to play.”
The pain is still there for the Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week, but it’s getting better. So has Anderson, a three-year starter for CdM. She’s an instrumental reason why the Sea Kings, who are 20-7 overall, went 8-2 in the Pacific Coast League to claim a share of just the second league title in program history.
The numbers are still a bit down for Anderson, with nine points and nine rebounds per game, though she ranks third and second, respectively, on the team in those categories. Perhaps her role has changed a bit as senior guard Brianna Westrup, who has signed with the University of Virginia for soccer, has stepped in as a second scoring option behind junior forward Natalia Bruening.
That doesn’t really bother Anderson, who is an excellent passer for a center and is averaging two assists per game as well, as well as two blocks.
“I think ‘Bri’ is amazing,” Anderson said. “It’s not a problem. I’m really not selfish with scoring. I just want to play as hard as I can and play a good game. Bri and [junior forward Kat Hess, committed to Stanford for soccer] just bring positive energy and make the team just better.”
Still, Anderson has been great lately for CdM, the No. 5 seed in the CIF Southern Section Division 3AA playoffs which plays at No. 14 Calabasas in a second-round game Saturday night.
The Sea Kings had two must-win games last week to win league, and Anderson delivered. She scored all seven of her points in the second half of a 66-56 win over Beckman on Feb. 10, helping the Sea Kings pull into a first-place tie with the Patriots. Two nights later, she had 10 points in a 52-49 victory against Northwood, shooting a perfect five for five from the field.
Anderson even kept her hot play going as CIF began Thursday, chipping in a season-high 20 points, nine rebounds and three blocks in an easy 79-55 win over Leuzinger.
“In the second half of league, she started playing a lot better,” said Decker, whose team won its last six league games after a 2-2 start. “That definitely had a huge impact in changing our season ... The bottom line is that Natalia is such a good player, and she deserves recognition. Krista slides under the radar, but not within our own team. When teams are double-teaming, triple-teaming Natalia, she’s got to pick up the slack. She’s really capable of it.”
Anderson has indeed proved capable since starting basketball at a young age. She has played with Bruening and CdM junior point guard Kelly Tam for years, and the chemistry is evident on the court. She also grew up swimming for Newport Hills Swim Team and even played water polo for a couple of years, but decided to stick with basketball as she entered high school.
Anderson’s parents, Kurt and Beth, are certainly proud of Krista and her younger sister Erika, who is a sophomore at CdM and runs track. Kurt, who stands 6-foot-5 and was a three-sport athlete at Hoover High in Glendale, loves the sport of basketball and watches it with his oldest daughter often.
Krista remembers watching a few years back, when the Lakers team led by Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol won back-to-back NBA titles in 2009 and 2010.
“I like watching the Clippers now,” said Krista Anderson, who knows that the Clippers, unlike the Sea Kings, have never won the biggest prize. CdM won the Division 3-A title in 1983.
The Sea Kings made it to the CIF semifinals a year ago. The competition is tough this year in Division 3AA, with the likes of top-seeded North Torrance, No. 2 El Dorado, No. 3 Antelope Valley and No. 4 Sonora.
But the Sea Kings, who are on an eight-game winning streak entering Saturday’s game, feel like they have good momentum as well.
“[Winning league] was a huge accomplishment for us as a team,” Anderson said. “We worked really hard for that. We were all really excited and we really wanted it.”
Nowadays, in the CIF playoffs, seeing Decker all the time is a great thing for Anderson.
It means there’s more basketball left to be played.
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Krista Anderson
Born: Oct. 29, 1997
Hometown: Newport Beach
Height: 6-foot-1
Sport: Basketball
Year: Junior
Coach: Mark Decker
Favorite food: Thai food
Favorite movie: “We’re The Millers”
Favorite athletic moment: Winning a CIF game at Hawthorne her freshman year.
Week in review: Anderson scored 10 points, making all five of her field-goal attempts, as CdM beat Northwood on Feb. 12 to clinch a share of the second league title in program history.
