Girls’ Basketball: Long Beach Poly and Gardena Serra played too physical

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Two Gardena Serra basketball players were injured last night in an Inglewood tournament quarterfinal against Long Beach Poly.

Bria Richardson was taken to the hospital last night with a concussion after getting hit in the head while driving to the basket. Richardson hit her head once more when she fell to the ground.

The junior guard has won back-to-back All-CIF and first team All-League honors the last two seasons. Coach Hadley said that he would not allow Richardson to play for at least one week.

Another member of the Cavaliers’ squad, Taylor Mack, suffered a bad knee injury. According to the preliminary diagnosis, the junior guard most likely has a torn ACL and will be out for the season, Hadley said.

Long Beach Poly defeated Gardena Serra, 55-32, and the teams racked up 20 and 33 fouls, respectively. Hadley said that the referees should have done a better job controlling the game.

‘You had two athletic teams and the game was more physical than it needed to be,’ Hadley said. He added, ‘It was eye-opening to me and the girls the type of intensity we need to bring when we compete against teams like Poly.’

-- Melissa Rohlin