WINTER SPORTS
Girls Basketball (20-11)
Breakers Qualify for State – Advance to Section Semi’s
Laguna Girls Basketball’s historic run will continue into next week as the Breakers have qualified for the State playoffs that open on March 1. This past Wednesday, the Breakers were in Bermuda Dunes for the D5AA semifinals against the Desert Christian Academy “Conquerors” (16-10) who advanced to host the game.
Should the Breakers prevail, they will host the D5AA CIF Finals at 7 p.m. on Friday at Dugger Gym.
The CIF ticket process can be found at gofan.com.
Laguna got to the semi’s last Friday afternoon with a 45-32 win over Yeshiva from Los Angeles. The Panthers are coached by Tyus Edney, a former UCLA and professional basketball player. Breakers took control of the game early and were never really threatened even with the strong press Yeshiva applied in the second half. Sophie Marriner led the locals with 19 points and established a new school single game, season and career record in rebounding collecting 28 in the contest. The junior already has collected 383 this season breaking her record of 364 set last year and has a career total of 969 rebounds. Anna Cheng had 11 points and Kate Cheng had 14 rebounds.
In the Second Round play on Feb. 16, the Breakers traveled to Palm Desert and were struggling in the first half against the Aztecs trailing 16-14 at the intermission. The game quickly changed in the second half with the Breakers going on an 18-0 run on their way to a 44-32 victory. Marriner had another big evening with 14 points and 17 rebounds. Six Laguna players hit a three-point shot to help secure the win.
In 48 seasons under Southern Section CIF sponsorship, no Laguna Girls Basketball team had ever advanced beyond the second round in CIF or won more than 20 games. Laguna is hoping they can meet # 1 seed Capo Valley Christian on Saturday. Breakers were embarrassed by the Eagles 87-38 in the season opening game on Nov. 16 at Dugger and feel they are a much different team than the one that lost in November.
Individual game and season statistics can be found on Max Preps
Girls Water Polo (26-6)
Breakers came away empty after their sixth trip to the top division finals in the past eight playoffs did not turn out like the other five. Newport Harbor (26-1) left no doubt defeating Laguna 11-6 in the Open Division finals last Saturday evening at the Woollett Center adjacent to Irvine High School. Overall Laguna had some fine moments but did give up a few goals on unforced errors not a normal occurrence with the Breakers. Credit the Tars’ game plan and execution for extending their win streak verses Laguna to four straight since their lone loss to the Breakers in December. Laguna leads the all-time series 21-14.
Against Newport, Princeton-bound Ava Houlahan led the team with three goals and two steals. Breakers trailed Newport 4-0 after the initial period and were able to get off only one shot in that quarter.
Last week in the semifinals, Hannah Carver scored on Laguna’s first possession from a great pass by Ava Houlahan and the Breakers easily dispatched Orange Lutheran 10-3 at the Woollett Center. The team effort included Charlotte Riches with two goals, an assist, steal, and a drawn exclusion along with Lexi Parness with a goal and two assists. Ava Houlahan continued to shine with a goal, assist, two steals, and a drawn exclusion while Lauren Schneider recorded two steals and 12 saves.
State CIF Regionals
On Feb 22, Laguna opened play in the fourth annual Division 1 State Southern California Championships with a trip to La Mesa to face San Diego CIF Open Division Finalist Grossmont at the Foothillers’ pool. Fifteen different Breakers scored including goalkeeper Lauren Schneider with a half court shot in the 18-2 victory. Breakers faced Orange Lutheran this past Thursday and the championship game will be Saturday at the higher seed’s pool.
Newport hosts Bishop in the other semifinal contest.
Breakers have made it to the finals in the previous three tournaments defeating Los Alamitos 11-6 in the 2018 Division 2 title game, losing to Orange Lutheran 11-8 in the Division 1 title game and defeating Bishop 17-8 in the 2020 Division 1 finals. Last season’s playoffs were cancelled by the State CIF. Breakers are the only Southern California team in any division to make a final-4 in all four tournaments.
Individual game and season statistics can be found on Max Preps
Wrestling – Master’s Meet Result
Laguna High School junior Jeremy Kantor lost his opening match on Saturday in the Southern Section CIF Master’s meet held at Sonora High School but still achieved a first in Laguna’s wrestling program by making it to the event. Temecula Valley won the overall team title with Laguna 104 out of 131 teams.
Spring SPORTS
Baseball (3-2)
Laguna continued their Newport Elks Tournament play with a 5-0 loss on Feb. 17 with Tesoro as the Titans scored all their runs in the final inning for the win. Breakers came back on Saturday with another Nick Bonn pitching performance as Laguna won 4-1 over Segerstrom. This past Tuesday, Colin Kidd’s sacrifice fly scored the deciding run as the Breakers prevailed 2-1 over Kennedy in a contest played at Skipper Carrillo Field. Shea Blanchard took the win with Joey Capobianco earning the save. Tyler Montgomery was Laguna’s top hitter with two hits.
After five games, Blanchard leads the squad with five hits, Noah Neufeld in RBI’s and Nick Bonn in pitching with two wins no earned runs and 19 strikeouts
Individual game and season statistics can be found on Max Preps
Sand Volleyball (0-1)
Breakers lost to Mater Dei 4-1 on Feb. 15 with No. 3 pair Lucy Laughlin and Eva Gardner recording the only win with a 21-6, 21-23, 15-9 victory on the Newland Courts in Huntington. Next scheduled match is March 3 with Edison on the same courts.
Boys Volleyball
The 51st season opened Wednesday at St Margaret’s. League play (Huntington, Newport, Corona del Mar) begins on March 23. Opening day results will be detailed next week.
Boys Golf, Boys Tennis, and Softball are scheduled to compete next week
Looking for the latest Laguna scores, rosters, and schedules?
Go to the department website at lbhs.lbusd.org/athletics/teams for the updated schedules and where the scores get posted first for all levels!
