Boys Basketball (22-7)
Laguna 66, Salesian 33
Breakers met little resistance in the easy win over the at-large entry from the Santa Fe League on Wednesday, Feb. 13 at Dugger Gym. Noah Blanton and Cole Kesler dominated in the first half with Laguna leading 29-21 at the intermission. A 25-6 second half opening run by Laguna left no doubt in the contest as the Breakers coasted to victory. Blanton led the team with 20 points, Kesler added 19 and Alec Wulff 15. Shea Rouda delighted the crowd with six points in the final period.
Harvard-Westlake 73, Laguna 60
Eighth-seeded Wolverines defeated the ninth seeded Breakers on Friday, Feb. 15 at the winner’s gym in Los Angeles despite Alec Wolff’s school-record tying performance of seven, three-point shots. The junior transfer from Torrey Pines finished the evening with 29 points while Cole Kesler added 17. Breakers were still in the contest until early in the second half, when senior Jake Dalke came down on a hard foul spraining his ankle and ending his season. The loss of Dalke, who has been key in assists, was among the factors that hurt the Breaker cause. Laguna still finished 2013 with the fourth best mark in school history, trailing only the 1962, 1990, and 2007 teams in wins. The squad also had the fourth highest scoring margin for all games. Coach Bret Fleming has been head coach for five of the school’s top-10 winning seasons and was an assistant coach on the 1990 squad that went 23-7. The 2014 squad should again be league
favorites.
Girls Basketball (19-6)
Brentwood 59, Laguna 32
Laguna made only one of 11 three-point shots and were limited to only nine trips to the charity line while host Brentwood hit on seven three-pointers and received 25 free-throw attempts in the playoff contest Feb. 14 at the Brentwood School gym. Jackie Cenan led the team with 12 points and finished the season with 410, a freshman record for Laguna and sixth best in school history. Overall, the Breakers set a school mark for season wins and should be an even stronger team in 2014.
Boys Soccer (9-4-5)
Diamond Bar 2, Laguna 1
Brahmas (15-6-2) scored twice in the second half to defeat Laguna on Wednesday, Feb. 13 at the winner’s field in a Division 5 wild card match. Breakers concluded the season with another winning record. Daniel Richards is 22-18-11 in three seasons with Laguna as head coach.
Girls Soccer (8-8-7)
Culver City 3, Laguna 0
Breakers could not match the host Centaurs as the Ocean League champs ended the Breaker’s season Thursday, Feb. 14. Breakers have now finished third or higher in league play six out of the past seven seasons.
Girls Water Polo (19-10)
Laguna 9, Dos Pueblos 8
Breakers held off the Chargers for the third time this season to eke out a win Wednesday, Feb. 13, at the Laguna pool. Seventh seeded Chargers had a chance in the final minute to tie the sixth-seed Breakers but could not get a solid shot off. Dos Pueblos still leads the series 8-7.
Newport 11, Laguna 10 (2 OT)
Makenzie Fischer nearly powered the Breakers to an upset over the defending champion Newport Harbor squad before an overflow crowd at the Laguna pool. Laguna behind the high-scoring sophomore took an early 5-3 lead but Newport continued to rally to tie the match heading into the final minute of the match. Tars took their first lead of the day at 9-8 with just over 30 seconds remaining in the regulation but Fischer countered seconds later with her sixth goal to send the contest to overtime.
In the two three-minute overtime periods, Newport scored to take a 10-9 lead then extended it to 11-9 in the second OT on a power play. Breakers fought back with Lexi Del Toro’s score and appeared to steal the ball for a last shot but lost out to an official’s call to the disappointment of the locals in attendance. The match was the 11th all-time meeting between the schools with Laguna’s lone win coming three years ago at the same point in the playoffs.
Spring Sports Next Week …
The season opens soon for Laguna’s spring sports with the official CIF opening day Saturday, Feb. 23 as the earliest date a regular season contest can be scheduled.
Boys volleyball will open their 43rd season hosting Edison on Tuesday, Feb. 26 at 5:45 p.m. in Dugger Gym. Baseball’s 75th season begins on Thursday, Feb. 28 when Laguna hosts Jurupa Valley in the opening game of the 30th Annual Newport Elks Tournament.
Boys tennis starts this Monday, Feb. 25 at San Clemente while boys golf travels to Coto to face Tesoro on Tuesday, Feb. 26.
Softball opens on March 1 hosting Capo Valley Christian.
Swimming travels to Pacifica also on March 1 while track doesn’t begin until the following week.
Photos by Robert Campbell