From the sports archives: It's a family affair for Carlmont High School's Burrell family

The Burrells are in a unique situation. Both their children, Anthony and Kathleen, play basketball for Carlmont. Both teams are in the CCS Division I semifinals and both teams are playing at 5:30 p.m. -- the sixth-seeded Carlmont boys play No. 2 Piedmont Hills at Independence High, while Kathleen's top-seeded Lady Scots take on No. 4 Salinas at Milpitas High.

Decisions, decisions.

"That's what the family discussion is tonight (Tuesday)," said Floyd Burrell.

It's a decision the Burrell family has struggled with all season long. It's not often two siblings playing for the same school advance to the CCS semifinals. Anthony Burrell, a 6-foot-1 senior guard, does a little bit of everything for the Scots -- score, rebound, assist his teammates and play strong defense. Kathleen Burrell, a 5-foot-9 post player, is just starting to come into her own. She scored a career-high 16 points in Carlmont's 53-33 win over Gilroy Saturday in the quarterfinals.

Some of the credit for Kathleen's blossoming game can be credited to Anthony and older brother Michael, a 2006 Carlmont graduate. Growing up with two ultra-aggressive and competitive brothers forced Kathleen to fight for everything.

"Growing up with two older brothers, I've always been aggressive trying to find my spot," Kathleen said.

All three Burrell kids grew up playing myriad sports. Kathleen spent many years just watching Anthony and Michael go at playing one-on-one, always begging to let her play.

Anthony and Michael were wary. They were afraid that if Kathleen got hurt, she would go crying to mom and dad and then everyone would be crying.

"We played around with her," Anthony said. "But me and my brother got extremely competitive. Someone always would have some blood spilled."

Kathleen kept working on her game and when she started winning some H-O-R-S-E and "21" games, the boys relented and started to play with her.

Just like they did -- rough. Floyd Burrell said Kathleen was told that if she played with the boys, she couldn't come crying to him if she got hurt.

"We made it very clear," Floyd said. "We don't want you coming here crying. She came here a couple times and we turned the other cheek."

The Burrell family knew Kathleen was ready to bang when she was in eighth grade. Anthony was a freshman at Carlmont, Michael a sophomore. Both were playing football and when Anthony came home with his pads from practice, Kathleen said she wanted to hit with him. She put on Michael's pad, lined up in a three-point stance and, as Anthony recalled, "She came at me full-steam and stuck me on the couch.

"That's when it was over. No more love taps (on the basketball court)."

Floyd said that one hit was the turning point.

"[The boys] finally had to give in," Floyd said. "They had to stop looking at her as a girl and look at her as a Burrell."

Anthony said from that point on, both he and Michael did everything they could to make Kathleen a better basketball player. A lot of has to do with overall court aggressiveness. Since Anthony and Kathleen play two distinct positions, there wasn't a lot of specific aspects of the game they could relay to each other.

"The only thing I ever tell her is be more aggressive," Anthony said. "I don't have to tell her a lot. She can ball on her own."

Now Anthony and Kathleen are two big reasons Carlmont has two basketball teams in the CCS semifinals. Anthony was named to the first-team, all-Peninsula Athletic League South Division team. Kathleen was a second-team member.

With her dad and brothers in the stands Saturday, Kathleen put together the best game of her career thus far. Not only did she score 16 points, she added five rebounds, came up with three steals and was a whirling dervish on defense.

"Me and dad were her biggest fans that day," Anthony said. "That was probably the most exciting game we've seen."

And Floyd was the proud papa.

"To see her put together the steals, the points, the rebounds, my chest was pumping," Floyd said. "She really exceeded her game."

Bolstered by his sister's performance, Anthony went out and dropped 16 on Gilroy in a 61-45 win.

Although Kathleen would love to have her parents at her game, she'll make the decision easy: She wants them both to be at the Carlmont boys' game.

"I told them (my parents) that I want them both to go to [Anthony's] game because I don't know when his last game will be," Kathleen said.

Said Anthony: "She doesn't mind (if their parents go to his game). If she could, [Kathleen] would be right there as well."