WINTER SPORTS
Girls Basketball (18-11)
Laguna played poised and determined last Saturday night at Loara High School as they easily defeated the second-place team from the Garden Grove League 51-38. The Breakers connected on eleven three-point shots with senior Anna Cheng scoring three in the first quarter on her way to a game high 15 points. Kate Cheng and Sophie Marriner each collected 11 rebounds as Laguna was never threatened by the Saxons (11-12).
Laguna traveled this past Wednesday to Palm Desert for a second round D5-AA contest. A win would send Laguna to the quarterfinals for the first time in the program’s history to a game either at Laguna this Saturday against No. 14 Yeshiva or at No. 6 Arrowhead Christian in Redlands.
Girls Water Polo (24-5)
Breakers were in the Semifinals last Wednesday against Orange Lutheran (17-8). If successful, Laguna will be in the finals on Saturday at the Woollett Center adjacent to Irvine High School. It would mark the sixth time in the past eight top division finals that have included Laguna. Foothill faced Newport Harbor in the other semifinals.
Last week:
Down 6-3 late in the third period, Ava Houlahan stole the ball near the Laguna goal and fired a deep pass to Charlotte Riches who fired a scoring shot with only 18 seconds remaining in the period to ignite a Laguna comeback that eventually resulted in a 9-8 double overtime “home” victory over San Marcos in the Open Division quarterfinals held on February 10 at Newport Harbor High School. Breakers were playing the contest at Newport since the local pool is undersized for competitive water polo. Momentum was on the Laguna side in the fourth period as Lela McCarroll scored off a Houlahan pass at the 3:38 mark and Charlotte Riches tied the contest at 6-6 off a pass from Lauren Schneider from the cage. With less than a minute remaining, San Marcos scored but eleven seconds later, Houlahan took a pass from McCarroll to tie the contest. The last shot in regulation by the Royals was blocked by Schneider who recovered the ball for Laguna just before regulation expired. In Royals’ last nine possessions after Riches’ late goal in the third, five San Marcos possessions ended in steals by the Breakers.
In the first of two-three minute overtime periods, Laguna’s stepped up defense really stifled the Royals attack. Riches scored first off a Houlahan pass but a surprising five-meter penalty call gave San Marcos a penalty goal at 1:23 remaining. After an exchange of possessions that included an amazing save by Lauren Schneider, Schneider threw a deep pass to Cleo Washer who found an open Hannah Carver for what proved to be the winning goal.
The Royals ensuing possession resulted in a shot well over the cage ending the first overtime. In the final period, San Marcos had five possessions but could only get off one shot saved by Schneider. The other four tries were quickly ended by Laguna steals—two by Houlahan and two by Washer. Breakers will need that intensity to reach the finals.
Individual Game and season statistics can be found on Max Preps
Wrestling – Kantor Advances to CIF Master Meet
Laguna Beach High School junior Jeremy Kantor finished fourth in the 182 weight class at the Central Division individuals to advance the Southern Section Master’s meet held this weekend, Feb. 18 to 19 at Sonora High School in La Habra.
The Central Division is one of six in the Southern Section and is composed of seven very competitive league plus the Sunset. Breakers wrestlers had to compete against schools from the Century, Del Rio, Freeway, Marmonte, Mission, Mt. Baldy and Valley View Leagues. Laguna is clearly the smallest public school in the group.
The top finishers from all six divisions advance to the Master’s meet with the top nine places in each weight class then qualifying for the State meet in Bakersfield on February 24-25-26. Kantor opens his run in the 32-wrestler division facing Diego Costa from Yucaipa. The winner will face a wrestler either from Norco or Canyon Springs for a state berth.
Laguna Wrestling is enjoying its most successful year under coach Bobby Morales and will return a talent core for next season.
SPRING SPORTS
Baseball (1-1)
Laguna scored on Noah Newfield’s sacrifice fly to earn a walk-off 3-2 victory over Long Beach Poly last Saturday at Skipper Carrillo Field. Nick Bonn went five innings striking out 12, allowing only one hit while Colin Kidd threw the final two innings. Laguna led 2-0 entering the final inning of play and needed the bottom of the seventh heroics to earn the win.
On Tuesday, the Breakers lost their opening game in the Newport Elks Tournament dropping a 2-1 contest at Laguna Hills. All the runs were scored in the final inning with the Hawks extending their series dominance to 51-9.
Remaining Elks tournament games were Thursday with Tesoro, Segerstrom at 11 a.m. on Saturday at Skipper Carrillo Field. and next Tuesday hosting Kennedy. A playoff game will be played Feb. 24 at a site not yet decided.
Individual Game and season statistics can be found on Max Preps
Boys Golf
Season opens in March with Estancia in a non-league dual match.
Lacrosse
The sport (Boys and Girls teams) continues to struggle with getting sufficient participation numbers to compete at the varsity level. Since the sport was established at Laguna in 2018, the boys have only played one season at the varsity level going 1-14 in 2019 while the girls played at the varsity level twice going 0-17 in 2018 and 0-14 in 2019.
Sand Volleyball
Results from the Mater Dei match will be detailed next week. Breakers resume play on March 3 against Edison at the Newland Courts in Huntington. Breakers will be on Main Beach at 3 p.m. on March 8, playing against San Clemente.
Boys Volleyball
The 51st season opens on Feb. 23 at St Margaret’s. League play (Huntington, Newport, Corona del Mar) begins on March 23.
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!
