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.