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Estancia keeps surprising

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COSTA MESA — Most of the time, the Estancia High girls’ basketball team plays games after the junior varsity team.

That wasn’t the case Tuesday night.

The Eagles played host to Laguna Beach 90 minutes earlier than usual because the Breakers don’t have a JV team.

Laguna Beach showed it really doesn’t have much of a varsity team either.

The Eagles easily prevailed, 60-36, continuing their stellar play in the Orange Coast League.

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Estancia (12-7, 3-0 in league) is playing like the league favorite, quite a turnaround after going winless in league last season.

In league this season, the Eagles are winning by an average of 22.3 points per game. They’re crushing the opposition.

One team is in the way of Estancia’s goal of sweeping the first round of league action. This team is Calvary Chapel and Estancia first-year co-coach Xavier Castellano said Calvary Chapel is the team to beat in league.

“I still look at us as the underdogs,” Castellano said. “We’re still trying to prove something.”

What the Eagles have established so far is that they’re contending for their first league championship since winning it in the 2002-03 season.

From the other bench, Laguna Beach Coach Jon Hendrickson can easily see why.

Estancia, ranked No. 15 in the CIF Southern Section Division IV-A coaches’ poll, is the lone team from the Orange Coast League ranked.

Hendrickson explains why.

“They hustle. They rebound,” Hendrickson said. “They do the little things well, which we need to work on. We don’t do the little things well.”

The Breakers (1-15, 0-3) find themselves stuck in a place Estancia was in last season. The cellar.

Getting out of it is hard because the losses keep piling up. Estancia handed Laguna Beach its sixth straight loss.

For a brief moment, Laguna Beach elevated itself, getting a lead early and holding on to it until the second quarter began.

Two three-pointers by Katie Daff and five points from Emily Writer put the Breakers up, 12-10.

While things appeared bright for Laguna Beach, Castellano described Estancia’s performance in the first quarter as “terrible.”

Things improved for the Eagles in the second quarter.

Erika Soto nailed two three-pointers and a free throw and Kassie Stratton converted four free throws, as Estancia outscored Laguna Beach by eight points to take a 21-15 lead into halftime.

“Because they saw [the Breakers’ record], I think they just overlooked them a little bit,” Castellano said of his players. “I know they can play. They’re well-coached.”

Hendrickson is doing his best with a team losing three starters to graduation.

The Breakers are far from duplicating last season’s success, a .500 overall record, a second-place league finish and a second-round playoff appearance.

The players hurting Laguna Beach before halftime did so again in the second half.

Stratton hit three of her four three-pointers and she finished with a game-high 21 points. Soto made her third three-pointer, leaving her with 12 points.

A third player got involved offensively for Estancia. Yessenia Maldonado contributed 14 of her 19 points in the final two quarters.

“Defense and [communication],” Maldonado said have been the keys to the Eagles being all alone in first place in league.

Calvary Chapel fell to host Godinez, 69-68, in triple overtime Tuesday, making Estancia the lone undefeated team in league.

Castellano and some of his players went to the game because Estancia plays at Calvary Chapel (8-12, 2-1) Thursday. Some team nicknamed the Eagles is guaranteed to win.

Castellano is hoping his Eagles are the ones.

“We don’t talk about that,” Castellano said of Estancia possibly going undefeated in league as it achieved in the Golden West League in 2002-03. “We’re trying to keep things as we normally do.”

One of those things is playing at 7 p.m., instead of earlier.

Orange Coast League

Estancia 60, Laguna Beach 36

SCORE BY QUARTERS

LB – Writer 18, Garner 9, Daff 7, Berri 2.

3-pt. goals – Daff 2.

Fouled out – Berri.

E – Stratton 21, Maldonado 19, E. Soto 12, Asher 4, Boldizar 2, Stafford 2.

3-pt. goals – Stratton 4, Maldonado 3, E. Soto 3.

Fouled out – Asher.

Technicals – Asher, Maldonado.


DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at david.carrillo@latimes.com.

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