Laguna gets past Timberwolves

Mike Sciacca

The Laguna Beach High girls’ basketball team jumped back on the

winning track Tuesday by winning at Northwood, 46-43, in Pacific

Coast League play.

The Breakers won it with a great defensive effort that forced the

Timberwolves into 35 turnovers and came up with 24 steals.

Claire Bevacqua scored a game-high 20 points for the Breakers.

“It was a great effort from the kids,” Laguna coach Stacy Howard

said of her team. “They played tough all game long and held off a

Northwood team that just wouldn’t quit.

“We needed a win there and we found a way to get it done. There is

no love lost between these two teams and I think that it came down to

us really being in better control of our emotions and our intensity

than Northwood was. We stayed out of foul trouble in a rough game and

felt in control all night.”

Bevacqua also came up with eight steals and seven rebounds.

Senior Andrea Ventura turned in the first double-double of her

career, scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.

“She played her strongest game yet,” Howard said of Ventura. “She

led by example all night on the floor, got every rebound we needed

and shot seven for 14 from the line, hitting the ones we needed in

the final two minutes. A great senior effort.”

Junior Haley Eaves also contributed some great minutes off the

bench for Laguna and scored eight points to go along with three

rebounds.

“She had great energy, great leadership and an even-keeled example

that really set the tone for us,” Howard said.

Brittany Clark had eight of Laguna’s 24 steals, and also scored

five points and had 11 rebounds.

“This was a real bounce-back game for us,” Howard said. “It was an

essential win in order for us to stay in the in the PCL title hunt.

“I’m proud of the effort the kids put in, both mentally and

physically to win that game.”

The win snapped a two-game skid for Laguna, which was coming off a

disappointing, 54-42 loss at Corona del Mar.

In that contest, Bevacqua scored a game-best 18 points and Clark

netted 15.

“It was just not a good effort for us,” Howard said. “The kids

didn’t bring their game and weren’t ready to play. CdM played solid,

but they are a team we should have beat, no question. We struggled in

all aspects of the game.”

In boys’ basketball, Laguna also found the going tough at Corona

del Mar, letting a seven-point halftime lead slip away in dropping a

38-37 game.

“We set basketball back 40 years in that one,” Laguna coach Mark

Hill said of a Breakers’ performance that resulted in 25% (10 of 40)

shooting from the floor, scoring just four points in the third

quarter, and playing “awful defensively” in the fourth quarter, where

Laguna allowed the Sea Kings 18 point.

Despite its woes, Laguna overcame a one-point deficit when Max

Jaffe hit a three-point shot with 11 seconds remaining, which gave

the Breakers a 37-36 lead.

The Sea Kings missed a three-point attempt with 4.6 seconds left,

but the loose ball went off a Laguna players’ hands and out of

bounds, giving Corona del Mar one last offensive possession.

At the buzzer, the Sea Kings’ Scott Slaughter hit a desperation

three-point shot to set off pandemonium on the court.

Nikola Nikolic led Laguna with 13 points and nine rebounds.

Jeff Clark contributed 11 points.

Previously, Laguna had posted a 45-42 home PCL win over

University.

The Breakers held a University team that had been averaging 72

points per game, 30 below its average.

Laguna led, 31-17, at the half, but the Trojans rallied in the

fourth quarter and had a chance to tie the game, but missed a

last-second three-point shot.

Ivan Kovacevic, who scored only seven points in the Corona del Mar

loss, had a game-high 19 points and 12 rebounds and five blocked

shots.

Nikolic finished with 13 points and eight rebounds.

Laguna, which played at Northwood Wednesday , hosts Calvary Chapel

tonight at 7 p.m.

“It’s going to be war, which is reduced now down to five games,”

Hill said of the stretch drive of the Pacific Coast League race. “So,

the team with the most character, toughness and consistency, will be

the one which will come out on top of this thing.”