Girls basketball: PCL title Estancia’s to lose

Barry Faulkner

Five different schools have claimed at least a share of the Pacific

Coast League girls basketball championship the last four seasons and

Estancia High isn’t one of them. That figures to change this season,

however, as the Eagles are solid favorites to earn their first PCL crown

since 1991.

With a 7-9 preleague record, that prediction may have as much to do

with the state of the rest of the league as the prowess of Coach Paul

Kirby’s Eagles. In fact, the six PCL representatives take a combined .386

winning percentage into Tuesday night’s league openers and only

University (8-5) has won more than it has lost.

The defending champion Trojans would appear to be Estancia’s biggest

competition for the title, while injury-riddled Corona del Mar and the

Rhondi Naff-led Costa Mesa Mustangs are additional contenders for the

league’s three guaranteed CIF Southern Section playoff berths.

Northwood and Laguna Beach should struggle to beat anyone but one

another.

Reflective of the lack of success thus far, this year’s PCL squads

feature few stars. Among the top handful of players in the league,

however, Estancia arguably boasts three in juniors Xochitl Byfield and

Tisha Gray, as well as sophomore point guard Trisha Wase.

Gray, a 5-foot-9 forward-center, takes a team-leading average of 13.1

points per game into Tuesday’s road date at Northwood. She is also the

team’s leading rebounder, having pulled down 17 boards in the Eagles’

final PCL tuneup, a 53-46 road win over Century Friday.

Like Gray, Byfield was a second-team all-league pick a year ago. A 5-8

guard-forward, she is averaging 10.7 points per game and at least one

coach (not Kirby) deemed her the best player in the league.

Wase, a 5-4 playmaker, was a first-team all-league selection as a

freshman. She averages 9.5 points per game, but her real value is setting

up her teammates and handling the ball.

Nancy Castro, a 5-10 sophomore, appears to be coming into her own,

having posted her first two double-figure scoring outputs in the Eagles’

last three games.

Sophomore guard Crystal Mino rounds out Kirby’s preferred starting

lineup.

Having already defeated University, 48-32, in a December tournament

game, injuries, foul trouble and an occasional bout with indifference,

appear to be the Eagles’ primary obstacles to the top spot.

Estancia plays University the final game of the first and second

rounds of league, Jan. 22 at Uni and Feb. 7 at home.

Coach Bob Bernal’s Trojans, who surprised many by claiming last year’s

league title, are led by veteran seniors Shaadi Ariazand and Danielle

Janda.

Ariazand, a first-team All-PCL choice last season, is averaging around

13 points per game, as is Janda, a second-team all-leaguer as a junior.

CdM (5-9), which claimed the 2000 league crown, had to settle for a

share of second (with Estancia) last season. Expected to again contend

for the title before this season began, Coach Elbert Davis’ unit has lost

40% of his starting lineup, including senior returning first-team

all-league performer Jackie McCoy, to injuries.

McCoy (knee injury) will miss the remainder of the season and 5-11

senior center Carrie Hawkins will undergo surgery to repair torn knee

cartilage Wednesday.

Davis said even if Hawkins returns, she will miss the majority of the

league schedule.

Senior guard Andrea Gruber, a second-team all-league choice last

season, will have to shoulder much of the load if the Sea Kings are going

to finish in the upper division. She is averaging 5.4 points, but Davis

said floor leadership and effort are Gruber’s leading attributes. She is

also averaging 4.5 assists.

“She has been unbelievable,” Davis said.

Senior sharpshooter Courtney Kawata (9.3 ppg) and 5-7 junior Kelliann

Klein (7.4 ppg after scoring 49 points the last four contests) will also

need to step it up to fill the gaping holes left by McCoy and Hawkins.

“If we decide to play and get focused, we could surprise some teams in

league,” said Davis, who was critical of his team’s lack of consistent

intensity the first 14 games.

Costa Mesa (6-9), winner of three of its last four, will likely see

some creative defenses designed to stop Naff, a talented 5-11 junior

averaging 17.5 ppg. Naff, who has seven games of at least 20 points,

including a career-high 28 against Lakewood and Fontana, has led Coach

Jim Week’s Mustangs in scoring in all but one game this season.

Senior Christine Caron, a second-team all-league pick as a junior,

leads the supporting cast, averaging 6.7 ppg. No other Mustang is

averaging more than four points, however, so defensive focus may be

magnified on Naff.

Mesa can do much to improve its stock with a league-opening victory at

Uni Tuesday. Perhaps the biggest league confrontations facing the

Mustangs are Jan. 17 (road) and Feb. 5 (home) against CdM.

Northwood, playing its second varsity season in the PCL, its first

with a senior class, is 3-13 thus far, while Laguna Beach (3-6) has lost

53 straight league games.