Boys Basketball (6-0, 13-6)
The season is down to four remaining regular season games and the Breakers appear to be heading for a showdown with Costa Mesa (5-1, 16-6) tonight , 7PM at the Mesa gym. The Mustangs have lost 13 straight to Laguna since 2007 and are really the only roadblock to Laguna’s chances for a sixth straight league crown. Since the Laguna’s post season D-4AA bracket is loaded with a dozen top private school teams, any finish less than first could be a ticket for an early exit. Mesa is in a weaker D-4A bracket and could have a deep run regardless to their Orange Coast League finish.
Last week Laguna added two more league wins defeating Saddleback (0-6, 7-13) 66-40 at the Roadrunner gym on Wednesday, January 25 and blew out Calvary Chapel (1-5, 4-18) on Friday 71-39 at Dugger Gym. Derek Reigel was high scorer against Calvary with 14 points while Brandon Lewis hit for 20 points to lead Laguna against Saddleback.
In 22 games this season , Lewis has scored 68 three-point baskets good for second place on the 25-year all time season list for Laguna long-range shooters. Travis Hanour (2000) holds the season record at 80 set in 25 games. Lewis is fifth on the career list with 111 career 3-point baskets just six behind Hanour at fourth with 117. John Trevino (1988-90) hold the mark with 134, Darren Gravely is second at 128, followed by BJ Jamison at 122. Laguna closes out the regular season at home on Tuesday and Thursday next week hosting Godinez and Saddleback. Tipoff is 7PM.
SSCIF Rankings Jan 30: 1- Serra, 2 – Lutheran/La Verne, 3 – Bishop Montgomery, 4 – Price, 5 – Crespi, 6 – Muir, 7 – Windward, 8 – Oaks Christian, 9 – Harvard-Westlake, 10 – J Serra, 11 – Chaminade, 12 – Maranatha, 12 – Sierra Canyon, 14 – Notre Dame/SO, 15 – La Salle, 16- Big Bear
Girls Basketball (0-7, 0-15)
Breakers were no match for Estancia (4-3, 12-11) as the Eagles defeated Laguna 44-23 at the Estancia gym this past Tuesday. Kylie Even led the team with seven points. Last week on Thursday, Laguna jumped out to a 13-2 lead over Calvary Chapel (3-3, 8-13) but faded in the fourth period to lose 42-29 at Dugger Gym. Maddy Knudson was the high scorer with nine points.
Girls Soccer (3-0-4, 7-6-6)
Breakers were held to a 0-0- tie on Tuesday night at Estancia as the Laguna was unable to score despite some near misses. Eagles (2-1-4, 7-7-6) are in fourth place just a point off a playoff spot. Estancia and Calvary met yesterday and Godinez closes out next week at Laguna on Monday and Calvary on Wednesday. Any of the top four squads could win the conference title out-right and only three schools advance to the playoffs. Laguna has never won a league title in 31 seasons and has only qualified for the playoffs on six previous occasions. Injury note – keeper Kylie George left the match on Tuesday with a slight concussion, her status for yesterday’s match at Costa Mesa was unknown at press-time.
Standings thru 1-31: Godinez 3-0-4, Laguna 3-0-4, Calvary 2-0-5, Estancia 2-1-4, Costa Mesa 0-4-3, Saddleback 0-5-2
Girls Water Polo (2-0, 15-5)
Breakers had one match last week but suffered another tough loss in their efforts to crack the top five of Southern California girls water polo. Friday’s opponent was Newport Harbor (15-4) ranked # 2 in the Southern Section D-I poll and always one of the sport’s top prep teams. The Tars and Laguna had battled back on January 13 in Goleta at the Santa Barbara TOC pulling out a 7-6 sudden-death tournament win but this time the regulation game went four overtimes before Newport’s Elissa Schilling again scored the deciding goal to give Newport an 11-10 victory.
Breakers had trailed in the first half 6-2 but rallied behind Yoshi Anderson to tie the contest early in the fourth period at seven. Newport scored with less than two minutes remaining but Anderson again tied the contest near the final one-minute mark.
Laguna has one final chance to crack the top post-season placements with the last major in-season tournament this weekend. Breakers are seeded sixth at Irvine’s 32-team Southern California Championships with play opening yesterday (Thursday) against Long Beach Poly. Should the seedings hold, Breakers would face # 3 Los Alamitos at 6PM today (Friday) at the Wollett Center adjacent to Irvine High School. The top nine ranked teams in Southern California are entered so Laguna could shake off the five previous losses to the top five (four by only one goal) with a strong showing and momentum for the playoffs.
Photos by Robert Campbell.
