Marina’s young guns

Mike Sciacca

The best word to describe the year for the Marina High girls’

basketball team is “growth.”

Call them baby steps, if you will, as the Vikings have survived an

extremely challenging schedule with a thoroughly young squad.

“People have said that we are rebuilding and I don’t like that

term,” head coach Butch Fredlow said. “When you rebuild, it means you

had to tear down.

“I believe that we are growing and every day, I see growth with my

team and, in return, they have helped me to grow into a better person

and coach.”

Fredlow, whose last four teams have qualified for the CIF Southern

Section playoffs, faces one of his most challenging seasons in

2003-04.

Among 13 players on the Marina roster, 10 are underclassmen.

Of the three seniors, only one, Emily Matayoshi, is a returning

starter from last year.

“I am reminded of the quote by William Butler Yeats, ‘We are happy

when we are growing,’” Fredlow said.

In 2002-03, Marina finished in third-place in the Sunset League

standings and earned a CIF playoff berth, advancing to the

second-round of the Division I-A playoffs where it lost to eventual

semifinalist, Canyon Springs.

The current Vikings are in position for another CIF playoff run.

Entering this week’s action, they sit in third-place again in the

Sunset standings and have won nine games, overall.

Marina’s done it, too, with a starting lineup that includes four

sophomores.

Three of those sophomore starters -- Rachael Maulit, Allison

Budzinski and Erin Barney -- all played at the varsity level last

year.

Maulit, a 5-foot-6 guard, was a first-team All-Sunset League pick

and Marina’s MVP last year.

She said she’s enthusiastic about the team’s year thus far.

“I think this season is going really well for us,” Maulit said.

“What’s great is that we are learning and growing together, as a

team, and that’s going to help us a lot in the future.

“We’re getting to really know each other on the court and what I

see from this team is that it has a lot of heart. We’re working well

together.”

Maulit will be a key to the success, Fredlow said.

“Rachael is a tenacious defender and runs the show as the point

guard,” Fredlow said. “Allison Budzinski was voted as the most

improved player on last year’s varsity by her peers and Erin Barney

has become a diligent rebounder and an outside threat this year.”

Lindsey Schultze is the fourth sophomore to start for the Vikings.

“She played junior varsity last year and this year she has shown

signs of good things to come,” Fredlow said. “She is a very talented

offensive player.”

Freshman post Marilena Guadagnini has played “solid basketball all

year long,” Fredlow said, and freshman post Stacey Yin has developed

her skills daily at practice, he said.

To get his squad wet behind the ears, Fredlow challenged the

Vikings with a tough nonleague schedule against some veteran

programs.

Appearances at the Woodbridge Tournament, Santa Barbara Tournament

and its own Larry Doyle Orange County Championships helped give the

Vikings some moxie.

In addition to the tournaments, they played four nonleague games

against teams that qualified for last year’s CIF playoffs, including

one team that was a league champion.

Marina went 3-1 in those games.

Now, comes the challenge of the second half of the Sunset League

race.

A playoff berth hangs in the balance.

“I wanted to challenge our players by playing this schedule

because you aren’t going to get better unless you, as a coach and as

a team, are challenged day in and day out,” Fredlow said.

“Looking at our league, I knew that we needed to play a tough

preseason schedule to prepare us for our league, which has two teams

ranked in the Top 10.”

One of those teams ranked teams is Esperanza, currently in

second-place in Sunset standings.

Tonight, Marina travels to Anaheim to battle the Aztecs.

These young Vikings can take a few more steps toward the future

with a strong finish to the regular season.

“This is a group that has added energy and personality throughout

our program,” Fredlow added.