Getting down to business

Mike Sciacca

The preliminaries are over.

Now, it’s time to get down to business.

A year after both the boys’ and girls’ basketball teams qualified

for the CIF-Southern Section playoffs, both squads start their bid

this week for a repeat performance by opening up play in the Pacific

Coast League.

The teams opened the league schedule with a home date against

Northwood, Laguna’s girls taking on the Timberwolves on Thursday ,

the boys, hosting their league rival tonight.

Both Laguna teams enter their respective league openers on a

winning note, as both defeated Newport Harbor Tuesday.

Laguna’s boys enter the league race with an overall record of 9-4

and have fashioned a four-game win streak heading into tonight’s

game.

Laguna also has won six of its last seven games.

The Breakers, who had been hampered by illness and injury during

nonleague play, figure to be in the thick of the title chase.

“The Pacific Coast League is wide open,” Laguna Coach Mark Hill

said. “However, if I were to pick one team (as favorite), it would be

Northwood, just because they have two All-CIF players returning in

Dan Selway and Tino Zaragoza.

“Do we a have a chance? Most certainly we do!”

Despite winning nine of 13 games to start the season, Hill said

the nonleague portion of the season hasn’t gone as expected.

“The preseason was not everything it should have been for us,” he

said. “We had too many injuries.”

Case in point: senior forward/center Ivan Kovacevic and Bobby

Monroe each missed 7 games, and Josh Cedeno missed two games.

“I don’t feel we have jelled yet as a team, due to this factor,”

Hill said. “Friday is a huge game for us, but it still is a 10 game

season and each game will be as equally important if you want to win

a championship.”

The Laguna Beach girls’ basketball team opened its Pacific Coast

League slate Thursday at home against Northwood.

Coach Stacy Howard had several thoughts on the girls’ league race

and expects her Breakers, who also were slowed by injury and illness

the first month of the season, to challenge for the league crown.

“I think that Tesoro is going to be tough, along with Northwood,”

she said. “I think that we can match up with anyone and that we are

tough to stop when we are disciplined.

“Calvary will be tough as well. I don’t like to make predictions,

but I will say that we have as good a shot as anyone at the PCL

title. It’s going to be a tough race, no one will run away with it.

It should be exciting.”

Howard says that nonleague play has definitely readied Laguna for

the rigors of league competition.

“I think that we are getting on track, have had some really good

game experiences in the preseason and are ready to go for league,”

she added. “The kids understand the importance of league games and

know that this is what they have been working toward since last

spring. They are fired up and ready for Northwood.”