Laguna Beach Sports: Week of Feb. 24

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Laguna Sports Update

Laguna Beach Breakers athlete Presley Jones attempts a pass against Foothill on Feb. 15. Photo/Jim Collins

Girls Basketball (22-10) 

Girls Can’t Closeout Oakwood – Fall in Semifinals

The Breakers cold shooting caught up with them in the final period as Oakwood stormed back on a 19-4 run to defeat Laguna 43-30 last Saturday night, Feb. 18 at the Dugger Gym in the D4A semifinals. Breakers had many blown opportunities with uncontested inside shots, but when the visiting Owls from North Hollywood got hot with their fourth-period shooting, Laguna could not keep pace. Laguna shot only 21% for the contest compared to 50% against Canyon Springs last week and 41% at Quartz Hill. Sophie Marriner, a fourth-generation Laguna athlete, led the squad with 10 points and 19 rebounds. Oakwood (18-10) advances to the 4A finals to face Notre Dame Academy (18-7).

Last Wednesday, Feb. 15, in the quarterfinals, the Breakers blasted Canyon Springs/Moreno Valley 62-45 at Dugger Gym, easily defeating the Cougars (17-7). Sophie Marriner scored 20 points with 14 rebounds, while Kate Cheng added 17 points and Sabrina Yang 14 points. 

Laguna has qualified and will participate in the State CIF playoffs, with their first game on Feb. 28. The pairings will post on Feb. 26 at www.cifstate.org.

Girls Water Polo (19-10)

Breakers Fall in CIF Semi and at State Regionals

Laguna dug themselves into a deficit in the second period at Foothill on Feb. 15 and could not force the SSCIF semifinal match into overtime, despite a great rally. Foothill playing at home with a large, friendly crowd took an early lead and never relinquished the advantage. Breakers pulled within three goals midway in the second period, but Foothill took advantage of their defensive matchups to take a 10-5 lead into the intermission. 

Laguna played some of their best polo in the second half and was able to pull within a goal by the final minute of the third period. The teams traded scores, but Laguna had six possessions in the final three and a half minutes to tie the contest but could only get off three shots losing 12-11.

Scoring for Laguna: Ava Knepper 3, Presley Jones 3, Cleo Washer 2, Emerson Hensley 1, Myha Pinto 1, Charlotte Riches 1.

The State Regional Playoffs were held this week with round one verses San Diego’s #1 squad from The Bishop’s School on Feb. 21 in La Jolla. The Breakers scored poorly, scoring on nine of 40 shots and losing 10-9 in sudden death overtime ending their 2023 season. Scoring for Laguna: Ava Knepper 4, Charlotte Riches 2, Jordan Schneider 1, Emerson Hensley 1, Lauren Short 1. The stats are posted on Max Preps.

Wrestling

Jeremy Kanter Just Misses State

Jeremy Kanter concluded his wrestling career at Laguna by going 2-2 in the SSCIF Masters meet at Palm Springs High School, just missing out on qualifying for State. He defeated James Flores (Western), lost to Sonny King (Canyon Springs), defeated Simon Backman (Claremont) and lost to Logan Witten (Trabuco Hills). In Jeremy’s two seasons at Laguna, he has set the bar high for future grapplers with the fledgling program, and as a two-sport athlete, he earned all-league honors in both wrestling and football.

More information on the high school wrestling program is available at www.breakerswrestling.com. 

Spring Sports Update 

Baseball (2-2)

Baseball continued play in the Newport Elks tournament defeating Tesoro 7-0 on Feb. 16 at the Titan’s field. 

Shea Blanchard threw a 2-hit shutout for Laguna, with the Breakers scoring three runs in the fifth and four in the seventh inning. Laguna totaled 14 hits, with multiple hits from Joey Capobianco, Ethan Porter, Noah Neufeld and Colin Kidd. Tesoro still leads the all-time series 9-5.

On Feb. 21 at Corona del Mar, Griffin Naess threw another great game but lost 2-0 as the Breakers gave up the runs off two errors in the fourth inning. Naess struck out 11 in his six innings of work, scattering three hits. Laguna has never had it easy against the Sea Kings, trailing the all-time series 44-13.

The Elks tournament concluded with a game against Temecula Valley on Feb. 22. The Breakers then play a series of non-league contests: Feb. 25 at Segerstrom, Feb. 28 against Calvary Chapel at the Great Park Field, and St. Margaret’s on March 4 in Laguna. The schedule and game stats are posted on Max Preps.

Boys Golf

The season opens on March 1 with Estancia followed by a match on March 2 with El Toro.

Girls Lacrosse (0-2)

The Breakers lost a tough 10-8 contest to Esperanza on Feb. 16 where they were down 7-2 and rallied back within one point at 9-8 but couldn’t quite catch the Aztecs. Laguna faces Tesoro on Feb. 28 and Tustin on March 2.

Girls Beach Volleyball (1-0)

Mike Sadler’s squad opened the 2023 season with a 3-2 win over St Margaret’s on Feb. 16 at Main Beach. 

#1 Dempsey Sadler/Grace Christian lost 16-21, 14-21

#2 Meg Gardner/Maddie Rootlieb won 21-14, 21-16

#3 Ava Steris/Morgan Sanders won 21-9, 21-11

#4 Bella Piskun/Chantelle Andronesi won 21-15, 17-21, 17-15

#5 Ariella Tavey/Julia Kellogg lost 22-24, 10-21. 

The next match is on Feb. 28 against Fountain Valley on the beach courts at Brookhurst/PCH in Huntington Beach.

Boys Tennis (0-1)

The Breakers return to action on Feb. 28 with Aliso Niguel and face San Clemente on March 2.

Boys Volleyball

The 52nd season begins with the ninth annual Tesoro Varsity Tournament on Feb. 24 and 25. The season details are next week.

The key players this season are setter Gavin Zaengle and hitter Laird Garcia.

Looking for the 2022-23 High School schedules and scores?Check Laguna Beach High School on the Max Preps website.

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