High School Girls’ Basketball Preview: Freshmen to make big impact on contending teams
Significant roster turnover seems to be a theme in the early stages of the high school girls’ basketball season.
Local teams are adjusting to the change, most of which was expected, but some parts of it could not have been accounted for.
Huntington Beach gave the area a story to follow all of last winter, reaching the CIF Southern Section Division 1A final and earning a subsequent state playoff berth.
The entire starting five that got the Oilers there is gone, including last year’s Daily Pilot Player of the Year in Frankie Wade-Sanchez, who is now at Concordia University (she is redshirting this year after tearing her ACL in October).
Most of the losses for the Oilers — Wade-Sanchez, Kaylyn Nakaji, Adrienne Dang and Rachel Harris included — came via graduation. Xolani Hodel, who started at center as a freshman in the latter half of last season, has not come back.
On some level, a number of coaches at Huntington Beach knew this day might come. Hodel played four sports last year, juggling soccer and basketball during the winter. She also competed in volleyball in the fall and track and field in the spring.
For now, Hodel has lightened the load by focusing on soccer, although Huntington Beach coach Russell McClurg said on Tuesday that Sara Binkhorst, an assistant coach at Brown University, called him to show interest in the 6-foot-1 sophomore as a basketball player.
The Oilers are starting over with a very young group. Freshman guards Alyssa Real and Meghan McIntyre have carried the play for last year’s co-Sunset League champions, although the Oilers (4-1) have really slowed down the pace of games.
McClurg said his team is operating almost exclusively in half-court sets, limiting both the possessions and the transition opportunities.
“That is exactly what our mantra is this year,” McClurg said. “It’s all about defense. You can see that all the games that we have played are very low scoring. The kids have really bought into just playing defense.
“We’re throwing so many different types of defenses at teams, it’s hard for them to catch on and make adjustments right away.”
Huntington Beach will also have help on the way, as Edison sophomore transfer Shelby Schuesler will give the Oilers another option on the wing when she first becomes eligible at the start of league play on Jan. 4.
Even without Cailyn Crocker, a high-scoring junior guard who transferred to Mater Dei, Los Alamitos should still be the team to beat in league. The Griffins (6-2) have the most dynamic guard remaining in the league in sophomore Asia Avinger.
Edison remains a good bet to make the playoffs. The Chargers (2-3) were pushed to a tiebreaker game by Marina to decide third place in the Sunset League last year. Those coming back for Edison include center Ashley Niemand, forward Finley Garnett and point guard Hope Nguyen.
All three are seniors, but only Niemand played for the Chargers before last season. Senior shooting guard Gabby Samiy has shown a proclivity to take and make the three-point shot.
Marina is another Sunset League team that was hit hard by graduation. The Vikings (3-5) had 10 seniors on last year’s team. The ship will not sink, though, if junior captain Katie Nguyen has anything to say about it. She has been putting up big numbers, including a line of 21 points, 14 rebounds and eight steals in a game against Pacifica in the Hawk Holiday Classic on Friday.
Newport Harbor (3-5) is in the early running for most-improved team. Give credit to Sailors coach Jillian Blackledge and her staff for developing the team’s young post players, including Willa Rath, Chloe Swanson and Ashleigh McPhie. Rebounding matters, especially for a Sailors team that will see most of its outside shooting come from a single player in junior point guard Lexi Alvarez.
“If we can pick up 50-50 games and keep at that .500 mark, I think we have a really good chance [of making the postseason],” said Blackledge, adding that Sunset League games against Marina and Fountain Valley will play a big part in that.
Fountain Valley may also be on the rise. The Barons have begun the season at 3-2 overall, and their two losses to Bell Gardens and Norwalk have come by a combined five points. Senior center Monet Oncu has been a focal point so far, averaging 8.8 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. She is the team leader in both categories.
Ocean View and Sage Hill, two of the six local teams to make the playoffs last season, have both added significant freshmen. The teams faced each other in the Hawk Holiday Classic on Monday. Hosanna Walker scored a game-high 19 points for the Seahawks (2-2) in the contest, while Emily Elliott matched the team-high of 15 points for the Lightning (4-3).
“Our freshman, we got work to do, but I’ll take her,” Lightning coach Kerwin Walters said of Elliott following a 49-48 overtime win over the Seahawks, who are from the Golden West League. “She’s amazing. She keeps grinding it out. Big play after big play, hitting her free throws, those things are just huge for us.”
The addition of Elliott, a 6-foot center, is huge for the Lightning, especially when considering the fact that Sage Hill lost its top option on the offensive end when junior shooting guard Heather Park transferred to Orange Lutheran.
With Elliott, Sage Hill should match up better with defending Academy League champion Oxford Academy, which possesses a junior center in Austyn Masuno who can score away from the basket.
Of the three local schools in the Orange Coast League — Costa Mesa, Estancia, and Laguna Beach — only the Mustangs (1-2) qualified for the playoffs last year.
Malia Tufuga, who was a solid option on the wing for the Mustangs as a freshman, did not come back this season.
As a result, the makeup of the Mustangs looks similar to that of Marina, with the team’s hopes riding squarely on the shoulders of Katie Belmontes. Costa Mesa needs to develop, as its playing rotation is just six players deep right now.
Estancia (1-3) and Laguna Beach (0-9) occupied the bottom two spots in the league last year.
Corona del Mar is looking to improve upon a 1-9 record in the Pacific Coast League last season in Brason Alexander’s second year as the head coach. Improvement in junior center Tatiana Bruening’s scoring touch is a sign that things may get better, but the Sea Kings (1-5) are shallow at the guard position. A knee injury to Malia Halafuka before the season began set CdM back in that department.
At Los Amigos, Nate Werdel, formerly the freshman girls’ basketball coach, has taken the head coaching duties for the varsity team.
The Lobos (3-4) are coming off their first playoff appearance since the 2012-13 season. The recipe for that postseason run was a steady diet of giving then senior center Cheryl Caldera the ball on the block, but Los Amigos, which is from the Garden Grove League, no longer possesses much size.
Twitter: @ProfessorTurner
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