Girls’ basketball debuts this week
The 2002-03 girls’ prep basketball season will get underway this
week with four local teams vying for various tournament titles.
Ocean View and Huntington Beach high schools got a jump on the
other two locals, Edison and Marina, by starting their respective
seasons on Monday, Nov. 25.
Ocean View is playing in the Fullerton Tournament, while across
town, Huntington Beach is playing in the Troy Tournament.
At Ocean View, Adara Newidouski began rebuilding the Seahawks’
program four years ago when she assumed the head coaching job.
Last year’s Seahawk edition went 9-16 overall, 4-4 in Golden West
League play, and reached the first round of the CIF playoffs --
something the program had not done since before Newidouski’s arrival.
“We’re getting stronger and stronger each year,” she said. “I hope
our patience pays off this season. Talent-wise, this is the best
group of kids that I’ve had since I’ve been here, and our bench is
deeper than ever before.”
Newidouski welcomes back a veteran team that includes all five
starters from last year.
First-team All-Golden West League selection Erica Williams, a
junior guard who averaged 11 points per game, is one of those
players. Second-team all-league pick Elyse McNeff, a senior forward
who averaged 10 points per game, also is back.
The other three returning starters are sophomore point guard
Vanessa Alderfer, senior forward Andrea Letcher, and junior post
Corinne Esposito, who, at 5-foot-10, is Newidouski’s tallest player.
“We’re an athletic team that has the ability to press and push the
ball up the floor,” she said. “We have some strong shooters and some
girls who can take it to the basket.
“What it all boils down to, though, is just going out there and
getting the job done. You can project what will happen all you want,
but what we do on the court will tell the story.”
Tournament action this week finds Huntington Beach playing in the
Troy Tournament, which continues today and concludes on Friday.
Edison is competing in the Century Tournament, which continues today
through Saturday, and Marina begins its season Saturday at the
University Tournament in Irvine.
Corey Kelly begins his second year at Edison with a talented squad
of five players who started at one time or another last season, plus
a pair of transfer players.
One returning starter is Rebecca Kepilino, a 5-foot-11 sophomore
guard/forward who averaged 10 points and 10 rebounds per game en
route to Second-Team All-Sunset League honors.
Back, too, are junior point guard Valerie Katayama, junior
guard/forward Jessica Harris and senior forward Jennifer Oden and
Pearl Hosokawa.
Transfers for the Chargers are a pair of juniors, Leila Abufarie
and Eva Camarena.
Abufarie, a transfer from Ocean View, is coming off a knee injury
that kept her sidelined last season. Two years ago, she averaged 18
points as a freshman playing on Ocean View’s varsity squad.
Camarena also sat out last season after transferring from
Westminster. She averaged 17 points with the Westminster varsity as a
freshman.
Camarena will not be eligible for competition until late in the
season, Kelly said.
“We have a team with a lot of balance, and I see us competing for
the Sunset League title,” said Kelly, whose Chargers went 21-9 last
year, finished second in the Sunset League and advanced to the CIF
semifinal round. “We’re a good team now, but with the addition of
Eva, we’ll be even better.”
At Marina, Butch Fredlow will begin his fourth season by putting
his youngest team ever on the court.
He welcomes back three returning starters from last year’s team
that went 15-12 overall and placed third in the Sunset League while
advancing to CIF.
Returners include senior guard Sarah McLeod, a four-year varsity
player who averaged seven points per game, senior forward Sara
Marquez and senior wing Mimi Kaneko, an outside threat who averaged
6.5 points last season.
On Fredlow’s roster, 10 of the 13 players are underclassmen and
three varsity members are freshmen. He says that a freshman trio of
point guard Rachel Maulit, wing/guard Alison Budzinski and forward
Erin Barney figure to leave their mark.
Ryan Bettencourt brings Huntington Beach to the threshold of a new
season with high hopes.
Gone is Kelsey Ball, who has taken her game to Pepperdine, but
Bettencourt’s second Oiler squad has several talented, returning
players. Among them is junior guard Alisha Mountford.
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