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By Loren Kopff
Publisher | Follow X
December 23, 2025
Emily Gonzalez (fourth from the left), Destiny Elmore, Jael Arreguin and Nayeli Tamayo, plus junior Jordin Shaw (#2) are flanked by this season’s La Mirada High girls basketball team as they were recognized at halftime of last Friday’s game against John Glenn High for winning the Mid-Cities League last season. La Mirada defeated Glenn 54-11 for its second win of the season. PHOTO BY LOREN KOPFF.
A lot was going on last Friday night when La Mirada High was hosting John Glenn High as both teams were looking to build off recent momentum swings. La Mirada first-year head coach Sharae Moten was facing the team where she had been an assistant coach the past several seasons and the host school was welcoming back some of the players who were part of the 2024-2025 squad which won the Mid-Cities League. That team would go 20-12 and advance to the CIF-Southern Section Division 4A championship game where it fell to Pilibos High 55-40.
Then there was the game, the first between the defunct Suburban League rivals since 2021 and just like that non-league contest, the Matadores had no problems with the Eagles in a 54-11 conquest. It was the second straight win for La Mirada which had lost its first seven games of the season.
“I was really excited just to see the growth of both teams,” said Moten. “It’s my first year here, so I really prepped them up for today and just wanted to make sure it was a good game, and most importantly just winning the week, especially with finals this week.
“This was our second win back to back, so just keeping that positivity, and keeping their confidence up; knowing that we do have a tough schedule moving up to [the] Gateway [League],” she continued. “I just wanted them to have fun, and I just wanted today to be a great game to see my previous girls who I still coach and work with.”
La Mirada was off and running from the opening tip as sophomore Natalia Tamayo grabbed an offensive rebound and fed a pass to freshman Kaitlyn Suzuki who drained the first of her four downtown shots just 16 second into the contest. The Matadores would score the next 14 points before the Eagles got their first basket a minute left in the quarter, an offensive putback from sophomore Jay Curl.
The second quarter would be better than the first for the hosts as they scored 13 points on six of 13 shooting from the field, forced seven turnovers and limited their former Suburban League rivals to just six shot attempts.
If that wasn’t good enough, La Mirada scored the first 11 points of the third quarter and led 41-2 with 4:45 left in the stanza. Senior Michelle Marin would sink the final two of three free throws with 3:20 left in the quarter to end the 13:40 scoreless drought. After that, Glenn, which had split its last four games, would go two of eight from the field and hit one of two free throws.
Moten was hoping her team would feed off its first win of the season, a 60-5 decision at Firebaugh High just two days prior in which nine of the 11 players on the team scored at least three points.
“We’ve played tough teams and there were a few games we should have won and we didn’t,” said Moten. “But just knowing that having the confidence that we played two games [in three days] and…it was just keeping their energy up and confidence up.”
Marin led Glenn (3-11) with five points while sophomore Haylie Golden added three points and three rebounds. Curl, the leading scorer of the team, was limited to just the first quarter basket. But she pulled down 18 rebounds with seven coming on the defensive end. The Eagles, though, turned the ball over 27 times with two-thirds coming in the first half. Still, Moten said she was impressed with their work ethic.
“I knew the plays, obviously, because I was there,” she said. “But just seeing them run it and the captains stepping up, like Jay and [senior] Stacy [Hernandez]. I know [senior] Errisa [Ramos] is hurt and wasn’t here. But they would have had a big help with Errisa; I was looking forward to seeing her.
“She was definitely our height of the team,” Moten added on Curl from last season. “Just by talking to her, she’s been working in the offseason and just pushing her as an athlete. I wish I was still coaching her because that was one of my goals, to get her into college. But she’s growing and she’s still young and I’m proud of her for her effort today. She just has to work offensively and score; make her layups and get on the boards to get her double-doubles.”
La Mirada was paced by Suzuki, the freshman sensation who poured in a career-high 18 points on seven of 10 shooting from the field, grabbed five rebounds, had five steals and an assist. The 18 points are the most by any La Mirada player this season, while junior Jordin Shaw, the other player who was recognized along with last season’s team, added 12 points, had four steals and a pair of rebounds. Shaw has reached double digits in scoring in five of the nine games.
“That’s what I love about her; when I first met her, I didn’t know she was a freshman,” Moten said of Suzuki. “Just seeing her get her confidence, because she’s kind of shy and timid, I want her to play different roles. I challenge [my players] to not settle, and she is a great shooter and I’m pushing her to take her shots.”
La Mirada hosted Torrance High this past Tuesday in the final game of 2025. During halftime, a quartet of 2025 La Mirada graduates-Jael Arreguin, Destiny Elmore, Emily Gonzalez and Nayeli Tamayo-who were part of a historic team in the history of the program, were recognized for winning the Mid-Cities League.
“It was kind of trippy,” said Arreguin, who was one of nine seniors off a team of 10 regular season players. “I was telling my dad on the way here it felt kind of like I was coming back home to something. You come here and you have a family forever, and seeing a lot of people that I know had my back in whatever I did; whatever it was whether it was sports or other extra curriculars, it was nice to come back to a family.”
Arreguin is one of 11 players for Cerritos College, along with Elmore and Gonzalez, but has not played a game yet because of an injury.
Arreguin said she found out the school was recognizing last season’s team at the beginning of last week and Cerritos College was originally scheduled to play Los Angeles Mission, but that game has been postponed to a later date. Of all the memories Arreguin had from last season, the one that sticks out as the best is the loss to Pilibos at Azusa Pacific University on Feb. 28.
“Although I had nightmares about it for months, I think just being there and experiencing something at such a high level; competing at a high level…at the end of it, you end up proud of yourself and you’re proud of the teammates,” said Arreguin. “I told my whole team that same day I wouldn’t have rather been here with anybody else. That’s a great thing to experience, especially with teammates. Those are different kinds of friends; teammates are a lot closer than friends.”
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