Girls sink Sea Kings

The Laguna Beach High girls’ basketball team went on the defensive

Tuesday night, and the result netted the Breakers’ their best

performance of the season.

Laguna stymied host Corona del Mar with a smothering defense and

rode that momentum to a 46-20 Pacific Coast League triumph.

“We played our best game of the year and made a statement in

beating CdM by 26,” Laguna coach Stacy Howard said. “An outstanding

team effort gave us the win, as we played our best defensive game to

date.”

Defense, indeed, was the name of the game for the Breakers.

They held Corona del Mar to nine, first quarter points, and then

completely kept the Sea Kings off the scoreboard in the second

quarter.

The second quarter shutout enabled Laguna to take a commanding

lead at the half.

Overall, the Breakers had 11 steals and 10 blocked shots on

defense.

They also outrebounded the Sea Kings, 36-18.

Offensively, Laguna hit 20 of 39 shot attempts.

“We did everything we talked about doing against this team,”

Howard said. “We pounded the ball inside all night to our big kids

and outrebounded them.

“We controlled the game from start to finish and outscored them in

each quarter, most notably, 12-0, in the second.”

Howard welcomed back Katie Sexton to the lineup.

The senior post was back on the court after a concussion forced

her to miss the last three games.

Sexton’s comeback included a team-high 13 points on six of eight

shooting from the floor.

In addition, she blocked five shots on defense.

“Her presence on the floor definitely had in impact for us,”

Howard said.

New to the Laguna lineup was sophomore Claire Bevacqua, who moved

up to varsity earlier this week.

Bevacqua’s varsity debut included 10 points and eight rebounds.

“This is a sign of bright things to come for this program,” Howard

said.

Freshman Brittany Clark contributed six points to go along with a

solid, all-around game that included three steals, three assists and

seven rebounds.

Senior Deana Awadalla played what Howard called “her most relaxed

game of the year and made things happen all night.”

Awadalla finished with five assists.

Laguna’s big defensive effort came on the heels of one of its more

frustrating losses of the season, a 54-38 setback to visiting

University.

One of the bright spots in defeat was Laguna’s ability to connect

on 14 o 22 free throw attempts.

The Breakers had struggled from the foul line in their two

previous games.

But even improvement at the charity stripe couldn’t overcome

Laguna’s nine of 35 shooting from the field.

“We played sloppy, undisciplined basketball and lost to a team

that we should have beat, no question,” Howard said.

Clark led Laguna with 13 points and three steals. She went seven

of eight from the free throw line.

Andrea Ventura chipped in 10 points and had six rebounds.

In boys’ basketball, University rode a big second half effort to

an 81-59 win over Laguna.

The Breakers trailed just 37-35 at the half, but the Trojans

outscored host Laguna, 35-10, in the third quarter.

University nailed an incredible 16, three-point shots in the game.

Ivan Kovacevic’s 25 points led all Laguna scorers.

Teammate Cheyne Martin scored 10 points and Jeff Clark and Taylor

Willhoit each scored six points.

Laguna also fell to Pacific Coast League leader Tesoro.