Girls basketball: CdM breaks Newport’s streak.

Joseph Boo

CORONA DEL MAR - Well, Corona del Mar High’s girls basketball team

finally ended it’s 18-game losing streak against Back Bay rival Newport

Harbor at home on Saturday. Despite the 48-21 score, the win wasn’t

pretty, it wasn’t emphatic, it wasn’t a league win, and it didn’t

embarrass the Sailors the same way Newport did against CdM for so many

years.

But it was a win,and CdM will take that gladly.

“We just wanted to beat them,” CdM Coach Elbert Davis said. “We’re just

happy to win the ball game.”

The Sea Kings (20-4) committed 19 turnovers and shot 18-for-59 from the

floor, but they forced 40 Newport (4-19) turnovers. But at the end, CdM

had more points than its opponent, and it can finally put to rest any

18-loss jokes floating around town.

For those of you too young to remember, the last time CdM beat Newport

was Jan. 25, 1990, when the Sea Kings’ Molly Flint hit a buzzer-beating

layup to give in a 40-39 squeaker, which broke a previous losing streak

from 1987. If not for Flint’s shot, Newport’s winning streak would be as

old as their freshmen class this year.

“It’s probably the best win I’ve had here,” CdM senior Charlene Quon, who

had six points on two three-pointers, said about the streak-buster. “It’s

so exciting. I didn’t really expect to beat them.”

Quon has been on CdM’s varsity squad for all four years, and is the only

current Sea King to go through the 90-37 and 80-38 debacles against

Newport in 1997. So she’s excused for being a little dazed as the victor

this time.

“We’ve always been blown out by them,” she said, not remembering last

year’s 37-31 and 37-28 losses to Newport. “I was scared of them as a

freshman. To finally win, this feels so different.”

But unless Newport pulled off a Truman-Dewey magnitude upset, CdM was

going to win this game. This is one of those loopy years where a St.

Louis football team can win a Super Bowl, a former “Beverly Hills 90210”

actress can be an Oscar favorite, and 20-game winner CdM can toy with

Pacific Coast League foe Laguna Beach like Thursday’s 67-27 blow out.

This from a Sea King squad who didn’t win a PCL game last year.

“From worst to first,” Davis said. “That’s what we’re trying to do.”

On the other side of the bay, the Sailors are in the midst of one of

their worst seasons in history, and came off Thursday’s 62-point loss to

Irvine heading into CdM.

Nevertheless, Saturday’s game did not start out like one of those

revenge-motivated blowouts everyone anticipated. After two quick CdM

baskets from Mijanou Pham and Season Meservey, the Sea Kings slowed to a

crawl offensively, and only led a workday-like 9-5 after one quarter.

“We came out jittery,” Davis said. “We weren’t loose.”

CdM continued scraping for points, but the Sea Kings’ Doberman defense

was in full effect. The Sailors had only one point off a Lindsay Moore

free throw in the second quarter, and CdM led, 20-6, at halftime.

“Our defense came ready to play,” Davis said. “Our offense was already

home watching the Super Bowl. But any time you hold a team to six points

in one half, that’s good defense.”

CdM continued its poor shooting, and continued to gradually build the

lead. CdM’s leading scorer, Kristin McCoy, overcame a refrigerated

shooting touch for a game-high 13 points. Her teammate, Carrie Hawkins,

scored nine points off the bench, four from offensive rebounds. And CdM’s

Jackie McCoy had seven points. Andrea Gruber was the only Sea King not to

score, but she had seven assists and six steals.

Newport’s offense did pick up in the fourth quarter with 11 points,

surpassing the 10 points the Sailors scored in the first three quarters.

Moore scored five of her six points in the fourth, nailing two jumpers.

Freshman Athena Vasquez led Newport with eight points, including one

impressive driving layup in the fourth. Evita Castillo grabbed eight

rebounds and Molly Weedn seven, for Newport.

“We played hard going into the fourth quarter,” Newport Harbor Coach

Gregg Savage said, “and I didn’t have a problem with that. I’m very happy

about our effort.”

Davis also concurred about his opponent.

“Newport did a good job tonight. Gregg is doing a good job over there.

This was not an easy win for us.”

But win CdM did. And now that the Sea Kings overcame the Newport hump,

they can resume their undefeated PCL season. A victory at Estancia on

Thursday clinches at least a share of the league title.

On the other side, Newport also derived something positive from the

hard-fought game.

“I’m happy with everybody I put in,” Savage said. “They all played well.”

So after the game ended on a turnover, everybody forgot about the past

and was, well, happy.

“We’re happy we won, and they’re happy about the effort they gave,” Davis

said. “Everybody’s happy.”

Nonleague

Corona del Mar 48, Newport Harbor 21

Score by Quarters

Newport Harbor 5 1 4 11 - 21

Corona del Mar 9 11 9 19 - 48 Newport Harbor - Vasquez 8, Ashton 2, Weedn 2, Castillo 0, Gallardo 0,

Moore 6, Gerlach 1, Brooks 0, Sondel 2, Woller 0, Mikami 0.

3-pt. goals - None.

Fouled out - Gerlach.

Technicals - None.

Corona del Mar - K. McCoy 13, Quon 6, Pham 4, Meservey 4, Eyre 2, J.

McCoy 7, Gruber 0, Hawkins 0, Kawata 3.

3-pt. goals - Quon 2, Kawata 1.

Fouled out - None.

Technicals - None.