The girl's basketball team at Centennial High School --
school name the Apaches -- captured their first league
championship this year. (©Centennial High School)

A championship eluded them for over 30 years. But this year, consistency and community support in Compton, Calif. helped take a girl's basketball team to the No. 1 spot in the league and to the California Interscholastic Federation playoffs.

Centennial High School's girl's basketball team, the Apaches, went undefeated in the Pioneer League this year and made it to the second round of the CIF playoffs after defeating Morningside High School 52-36 on Feb. 19. Centennial's winning streak ended there, with a loss to Atascadero High on Feb. 21, 43-28.

"Their winning means a lot to the community," said Rodolfo Zendejas, assistant principal at Centennial. "These girls proved that hard work goes a long way and the support from everyone shows that the community does care."

Last year, coach Derrick Florence and Kendric Bradley, the team's assistant coach, led the team to second place in the league and to the second round of CIF playoffs. In only their second year coaching the team, Florence and Bradley have found a secret to their successes.

"Basically it was consistency. We came over last year and we've just been consistent," Florence said. "The players showed up every day, they worked hard and did what they had to do."

Bradley also said there was a sense of support in the community that helped the team along the way.

"[the team] couldn't have done it alone," he said. While the team trained a lot, the support "got them excited."

Members of the Apaches agreed.     

Britney Armstrong, 18, a senior, has been on the team for four years and said she noticed  support growing over time.  Once the team started winning games, people started watching.

"We went from having maybe just our coaches in there to actually having crowds at the games and that was just awesome," Armstrong said.

"And in our league games, we actually had better crowds than the boys," Shalis Hayes-Davis, 18, a senior, said.

Sparkal Clark, 18, also a senior, said the team had never had that kind of support before. "I think the community was really there supporting us."

One reason more people did not show up to the first-round playoff game at home was the ticket price. Many people who came to the game did not know the cost beforehand and ended up not going inside because of the $8 ticket prices.

"People were outside but they heard the prices and they were like, 'Good luck!'" Armstrong said.

Florence and Bradley plan to build on this year's success again. The goals for next year include, "working hard, scout[ing] out opponents better, and train[ing] the kids better," Bradley said. The Apaches want to repeat as league champions.