High School Basketball: Laguna teams ousted from CIF playoffs
The 2014-15 season came to a close on the same weekend for the Laguna Beach boys’ and girls’ basketball teams.
Having to play formidable foes in the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division 4AA playoffs, the Laguna boys had their postseason end in a 71-53 loss to West Hills Chaminade Feb. 20, and the Laguna girls fell to Studio City Harvard-Westlake, 70-36, last Saturday.
The Laguna boys’ team, which won its playoff opener (71-57) over Los Angeles Salesian Feb. 18, was led at Chaminade by freshman wing Blake Burzell, who scored a game-high 21 points. Junior guard Isaac Wulff scored 11 points and both he and Burzell hit three three-point shots.
Laguna, the tournament’s No. 14 seed, closed its season with a 16-14 record. The Breakers finished in third place in the Orange Coast League.
Chaminade (21-9), the No. 4 team from the Mission League and the No. 3 seed in the tourney, defeated No. 7-seed Inglewood Morningside, 63-54, Tuesday to advance to take on No. 2-seed San Luis Obispo Mission Prep in a division semifinal Friday.
“I think this season was a learning experience for most of the kids,” Fleming said. “We had a small number coming back from last year’s team with playing experience, and we had a bunch of new kids with no playing experience. The season was about gaining experience and figuring things out. I hope we learned some lessons going forward.
“I definitely think that this was a group that made progress.”
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The Laguna Beach girls’ team had a first-round bye in the Division 4AA playoffs, and the Breakers, the No. 15 seed for the tournament, played a second-round home game last Saturday against No. 2-seed Harvard-Westlake. In their postseason debut, they were eliminated after a 70-34 loss to the Wolverines at Dugger Gym.
“Harvard-Westlake was just too good,” Laguna Coach Mark Lewis said. “Too many horses. But the girls played hard all the way to the end. They never gave up. They played to exhaustion. Always a tough way to end a season, but only one team gets to end with a win.”
Junior guard Jackie Cenan scored 18 points and junior guard Alexandra Lewis had 14 points for the Breakers.
Laguna, which tied with Godinez for second-place (7-3) in the Orange Coast League, finished the year 15-12 overall.
Mark Lewis dubbed it an “overall, great season.”
“It certainly exceeded my expectations,” he said. “Considering the injuries we sustained, the loss of a key starter to other activities, the return of a key starter (Cenan) recovering from injury, the number of lineup/roster adjustments and offensive sets that we had to deploy to adjust to all the moving parts throughout the season, the girls certainly exceeded my expectations.
“Already looking forward to next season. With no seniors to be lost to graduation, our squad will be even better next season as they will have all benefited from this season together, and we will have all of our players from the beginning of season.
“This will allow us to refine our team skills for better consistency throughout on both the defensive and offensive ends. I’m excited about some of the elements we are planning for our schedule next season.”
Twitter: @MikeSciacca