Winter Sports Update
Girls Basketball (21-9)
Laguna Advances to Quarterfinals
The Breakers opened their Division 4-A CIF run with a barrage of three-point shots as they defeated Dominguez 68-42 at Don’s gym on Thursday, Feb. 9. Kate Cheng scored 19 points, Alexandra Grombchevsky had 15 points all on three-point shots. Sophie Marriner added 15 points, 13 rebounds and six steals.
The Breakers traveled to the high desert on Feb. 11 and blistered the nets for thirteen 3-point shots in their 53-36 victory over Quartz Hill. Grombscevsky hit six three-pointers to lead the team with 18 points. Sabrina Yang hit on five long-rangers for 15 points. Breakers as a team shot a remarkable 54% from beyond the arc.
The Division 4A Quarterfinals were held on Feb. 15 when #5 seed Laguna hosted #15 Canyon Hills (17-6). Should the Breakers win, they would most likely play this Saturday, Feb. 18 at #2 Crossroads High School in Santa Monica in the semifinals. The championship game is scheduled for Feb. 25.
Girls Water Polo (19-8)
Breakers Defeat San Marcos – Qualify for State Regionals
Laguna controlled the match early and survived foul troubles to defeat #5 San Marcos 9-7 in the Open Division Quarterfinals held on Feb. 9 at Sage Hill School. The Newport Coast institution provided the full-size “home” for the Breakers, with an overflow crowd witnessing the victory.
Ava Stryker, the talented attacker for the Royals, scored six goals, including two penalty shots, but her efforts in a fourth-period comeback were stopped by Presley Jones scoring off a pass from Emerson Hemsley that extended the Laguna lead to 7-3. After a Striker score, Hensley scored off a Myah Pinto pass at the 3:37 mark to push the margin back to four, and the Breakers were able to secure the victory as San Marcos ran out of time.
Semifinals were this past Wednesday at Foothill, and should the Breakers prevail, the finals are expected to be at Irvine’s Woollett Center on Feb. 18.
The State Regional Playoffs will be held next week, with round one on Feb. 21, Semi’s on Feb. 23, and finals on Feb. 25. Pairings, sites, and times will be posted at www.cifstate.org.
Wrestling
Jeremy Kanter second at CIF – Breakers Finish sixteenth
Jeremy Kanter went 3-1 at the Inland Division Finals to finish 2nd in the 182lb weight class. As in the league finals, he lost in the championship to Tim McDonald from Fountain Valley, who won the CIF weight class for the third straight time.
Kanter has qualified for the SSCIF Masters Meet this weekend in Palm Springs to determine the State Meet entries for the Southern Section. Each of the 14 weight classes is split into two divisions of 16 wrestlers, with the top five in each division advancing to State in the double-elimination event. State will be Feb. 23-25 in Bakersfield.
At the CIF finals, the Breakers finished sixteenth out of 30 teams in the Inland Division won by Fountain Valley. Barron Zepeda went 2-1 in the 113 LB class, and also competing for Laguna were James Kramer (132), Jackson Lawsky (120), Zade Harrison (138), and Mason Mikulin (106).
Spring Sports
Baseball (1-1)
Laguna played an epic contest to open their 85th varsity season with a nine inning walk-off 1-0 heartbreak loss at Long Beach Poly on Feb. 11. Griffin Naess pitch the initial seven innings allowing one hit with the Jackrabbits scoring the winning run on a deep single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning off Shea Blanchard.
Laguna bounced back on Tuesday, Feb. 14, in their opening game of the Newport Elks Tournament, blasting Mission Viejo 14-3 at Laguna. Breakers took the early lead when Griffin Naess doubled home Colin Kidd in the 4th inning, but Kidd got in trouble pitching in the top of the 5th inning as the Diablos were able to tie up the game. Joey Capobianco came in relief to close out the game from the mound. Capobianco secured the win with a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth for Laguna to take a 4-3 lead, and the roof fell in on Mission when Laguna scored ten runs in the sixth inning aided by a hit batter, three walks and an error.
Laguna continues tournament play at Tesoro on Feb. 16 and Corona del Mar on Feb. 23.
Girls Lacrosse – Laguna returns to varsity play for the first time since 2019, dropping a close 9-6 game to Dana Hills. Summer DiMaggio led the Breakers with five goals, and Stella Hendricks had an outstanding debut as goaltender. The Dolphins pulled out the win with second-half penalty shots.
Boys Tennis – The first match was this past Tuesday at Tesoro where the Titans defeated Laguna 12-6. Breaker Doubles teams of Owen Britt/Lucas Silverman and Sam Wong/Nicolas Plaia each won twice.
Boys Volleyball – Play begins with the Tesoro tournament Feb. 24-25.
Looking for the 2022-23 High School schedules and scores? Check Laguna Beach High School on the Max Preps website
