Streak remains in place

Patrick Laverty

Fifteen and counting.

By winning the final two games of the season, the Costa Mesa High

girls basketball team reached 11 victories, the minimum requirement

for postseason consideration. On Sunday, the Mustangs were rewarded

with a CIF Southern Section Division III-A at-large berth, putting

them into the playoffs for the 15th straight year.

“I was pretty confident,” Costa Mesa Coach Jim Weeks said. “I

thought there was a 99% chance of getting in. I’d say I was

confident, though if you saw me an hour or two ago you might not have

thought so.”

Costa Mesa joins Golden West League and city rival Estancia, which

qualified by finishing third in league, in Division III-A. Both teams

will play wild-card games Thursday.

Newport Harbor received an at-large berth in Division II-AA for

the second straight season and will open in the first round Saturday

at Pacific Coast League champion University.

The Mustangs (11-13) upset Westminster Tuesday by hitting a

school-record 14 three-pointers and held off Santa Ana Thursday to

reach the required 11 victories. For its efforts, Mesa will play at

El Segundo (13-12), the fourth-place entrant from the Pioneer League,

in a wild-card game Thursday.

“I’m going to tell the girls at practice [today], ‘This is it. We

accomplished our main goal. Now everything we do is a bonus for us,’

” said Weeks by phone from Arizona, where he had planned a golf

weekend. “There’s no pressure on us. No one thought we’d get [to the

playoffs].”

Senior Susy Trujillo leads the Mustangs with 11.6 points per game

this season and 49 three-pointers.

If Mesa is victorious against El Segundo, it will advance to a

first-round game at Santa Ynez Saturday. The Pirates (23-3) won the

Los Padres League.

Estancia (10-15), an easy winner over Costa Mesa twice this

season, will play host to Marshall of Pasadena (10-7), the No. 3 team

out of the Delphic League, in a wild-card game Thursday. If the

Eagles win, they will face top-seeded Rosary (22-4), the champion of

the Serra League, Saturday in the first round.

In league, Estancia was led by senior center Nancy Castro (19.5

points per game) and senior point guard Trisha Wase (11.1 ppg).

Newport Harbor (13-12), which posted its first winning record in

three seasons under Coach Jen Thompson, will begin first-round play

Saturday at University.

“We lost by 18 last year [in a first-round game against Edison],”

Thompson said. “I think they were just really happy to be there,

happy to be playing in the postseason. This year, I think they know

that they are capable of playing with these teams.”

The Sailors should definitely know they can compete against their

first-round opponent. They lost to University in a tournament earlier

this season, 48-44. Newport Harbor played without 5-foot-9 senior

Victoria Swigart (11.1 points per game) in that game and she also

missed the last three games of the regular season because of a knee

injury. But Thompson is hopeful the extra week of rest is enough for

Swigart to return to the court for the playoffs.

“She really wants to play,” Thompson said. “She has that desire

and heart.”

Awaiting the Sailors, if they should upset University, would

likely be No. 4-seeded El Dorado (23-3), the Century League

runner-up.