League action begins

Mike Sciacca

Just hours before his Marina High boys’ basketball team was

scheduled to take on Newport Harbor in the North/South Challenge at

El Toro High, coach Roger Holmes was asked to handicap the Sunset

League race.

Holmes immediately referred to last year’s incredibly tight race

and noted that, for how balanced the league was from top to bottom,

trying to tab one team as the team to beat in 2003 might prove more

difficult to predict.

“Everyone in our league has played really well in nonleague

against tough competition,” said Holmes, whose team defeated Newport

Harbor, 66-44. “I think it’s even more balanced than last year, and

last year’s race was a wild one.”

The Sunset League boys’ race begins Friday with Edison hosting

Esperanza, Marina at home against Fountain Valley and Huntington

Beach on the road at Los Alamitos.

When the 2002 league schedule was completed last February,

Esperanza and Los Alamitos tied for top honors, both finishing at

7-3.

But ascending to the top was anything but easy for the Aztecs and

Griffins, as for any other league team.

Just ask Fountain Valley, which was twice knocked off by

sixth-place Huntington Beach, each time when the Barons were in first

place.

And then there was Marina, which finished 4-6 overall, lost twice

at the buzzer to Los Alamitos and dropped a one-point game to

Esperanza.

“We lost some tough games last year, losing on last-second shots

to Edison and Los Al, but we feel good heading into league play,”

Huntington Beach coach Richard Alvarez said. “There will be no easy

game again this league season, that’s for sure.”

Edison, Marina and Huntington Beach each enter league play with

winning records, and each appears capable of vying for the title.

During the winter break, Edison finished second at the Estancia

Christmas Classic, and Marina won the third-place game at the

Atascadero Tournament. Huntington Beach placed third at the

Lahaina-Luna Tournament in Maui and had success at the Orange Holiday

Classic at Chapman College.

The Sunset League girls’ race opens tonight with a schedule that

includes Edison at Esperanza, Huntington Beach home to Los Alamitos,

and Marina traveling to Fountain Valley.

Esperanza went 9-1 in league play and won the crown in 2002,

finishing one game ahead of runner-up Edison.

The Chargers’ two league losses came to Esperanza, which has won

consecutive Sunset titles since Edison won two straight beginning in

1999.

The two schools have built up quite a rivalry on the court in the

last four years.

Like their male counterparts, Edison, Marina and Huntington Beach

all begin Sunset play with winning records.

“We have gone 8-2 over our last 10 games and feel pretty confident

heading into league play,” said second-year Edison coach Corey Kelly,

whose team won the fifth-place game at the Larry Doyle Memorial

Orange County Championships during the holiday break.

Huntington Beach also brings some momentum into league play,

having finished third at the Palm Desert Tournament.

“I’ve had the chance to see each league team play at least once

this season, and I think it’s going to be a very competitive and

exciting race,” Huntington Beach coach Ryan Bettencourt said. “I

think we’ll be very competitive.”

Ocean View got a jump on the local schools earlier this week,

opening up the Golden West League boys’ and girls’ basketball races

on Monday and Tuesday, respectively.

Ocean View, indeed, is the team to beat, as the Seahawks are

four-time defending champions of the league.

For the Seahawk girls’ team, coach Adara Newidouski says the game

plan for her team -- whittled down to a roster of just eight players,

is simple.

“I see Costa Mesa, Westminster and Estancia as the teams to beat,”

she said. “But for us, our goal is to take this [race] one game at a

time. That is our focus.”

* MIKE SCIACCA covers sports and features. He can be reached at

(714) 965-7171 or by e-mail at michael.sciacca@latimes.com.