Girls basketball: Eagles ready to soar

Richard Dunn

COSTA MESA - It’s quality over quantity this season at Estancia

High, where the dynamic duo of 5-foot-8 junior Xochitl Byfield and

sophomore point guard Trisha Wase could rival any 1-2 punch in Orange

County girls basketball.

It’s when you dig deep in the Estancia bench that you could have

problems.

“It should be an exciting year, as long as we stay away from injuries,

because we’re not very deep,” said Estancia Coach Paul Kirby, whose

2001-02 varsity team consists of only eight players, four of whom,

however, were at least part-time starters last season.

Byfield, an All-Newport-Mesa District and second-team All-Pacific

Coast League selection last season as a sophomore, is a third-year

varsity performer who averaged 10.8 points per game in 2000-01 as the

Eagles finished 16-11 and grabbed second place in the PCL at 7-3.

After losing only role players to graduation off last year’s team that

competed in the PCL championship game against University (and lost), the

Eagles are being given early consideration as league favorites.

“I’d say (the Trojans) should be favored to win it until someone beats

them, but we should contend,” said Kirby, who, as he enters his sixth

season as head coach, referred to himself as a “dinosaur.”

Kirby, who started as an Estancia assistant coach under Russ Davis in

1992-93, has guided the Eagles to the CIF Southern Section divisional

playoffs three straight years and four out of the last five.

“We had a chance to win the league championship ... we were that

close,” Kirby said. “We should have won league last year.”

While three of the league’s upper-tier teams lost key players,

Estancia returns its best players, led by Byfield and Wase.

“(Byfield) can shoot three-pointers, she can put the ball on the floor

and she can go to the basket,” Kirby said. “She’s athletic, she can run

and she’s quick, and, as far as her post play is concerned, she’s not

big, but she’s been playing since the third grade.

“She’s going to put some points on the board again, she has the most

experience on the team, and she has a point guard who can distribute the

ball.”

Wase, 5-4, was a first-team All-PCL selection last year and Kirby said

“when you’ve got someone who can handle the ball and dribble through a

press and shoot three-pointers and has that experience, that’s pretty

good.”

Tisha Gray, a 5-9 junior forward, and Marie Rodriguez, a 5-4 guard,

are also returning players. Physically, Gray is the team’s strongest

player and will guard each opponent’s top post player, most of whom will

have a size advantage. Rodriguez, the only senior on the squad, will

start at two guard.

Of the team’s newcomers, 5-10 sophomore forward Nancy Castro, who

shared team MVP honors last year on the junior varsity, is expected to be

Kirby’s fifth starter.

Sophomore guards Crystal Mino, 5-5 and a transfer from Newport Harbor,

Reyna Garcia, 5-4, and Georgina John, 5-5, round out the Eagles’ roster.

Further, the Eagles expect to maintain possession of the perpetual

Bell trophy, awarded to the annual winner of the crosstown rivalry

between Estancia and Costa Mesa.

“We’re going to keep the Bell,” Kirby predicted. “We’re going to have

it for the next three years.”

Last year, the Eagles swept Mesa, including a 39-38 win in the second

round.

“Ribs are nice,” Kirby said of the annual reward at the Newport Rib

Company for winning the Bell trophy, “but we want to win league.”

The Eagles, who open their season Tuesday (7 p.m.) at home against

Huntington Beach, play in the University Tournament starting Dec. 1.

ESTANCIA

10 Reyna Garcia 5-4 So.

12 Marie Rodriguez 5-4 Sr.

22 Tisha Gray 5-9 Jr.

23 Crystal Mino 5-5 So.

24 Trisha Wase 5-4 So.

31 Xochitl Byfield 5-8 Jr.

34 Georgina John 5-5 So.

42 Nancy Castro 5-10 So.

Coach: Paul Kirby