Los Alamitos clamps down on Huntington Beach in first-place showdown

Huntington Beach High girls’ water polo senior goalkeeper Marina Hyham was seemingly everywhere in Wednesday night’s Sunset League first-place showdown against Los Alamitos.

Hyham made 12 big saves and was aggressive when she needed to be, with four steals. She helped the Oilers keep the Griffins within reaching distance in the first half.

Collectively as a unit, though, the Los Alamitos defense was even more impressive.

The Griffins clamped down for a 9-2 victory over the Oilers at Newport Harbor High, clinching at least a share of their third straight league title after winning the battle of last two remaining unbeaten teams in league.

Los Alamitos (16-5, 4-0 in league), ranked No. 7 in CIF Southern Section Division 1 and 2, can clinch the outright league title with a win over Fountain Valley on Feb. 7. No. 13-ranked Huntington Beach (14-7, 3-1) falls into a second-place tie in league with No. 9 Newport Harbor, and plays the Sailors in an important league finale on Feb. 7 as well.

Junior goalkeeper Tara DeBrabander had seven saves and five steals and junior Katie Dvonch also had five steals for Los Alamitos, which again displayed the kind of defense it showed in a 13-3 win over Newport Harbor in the league opener on Jan. 3.

“[Hyham] had a really good game and she blocked a lot of really good shots,” Los Alamitos coach Dave Carlson said. “When something like that happens, it’s nice to know that we can rely on our defense.”

Dvonch also led the Griffins with three goals, while Eva Browning and Madison Ravelo each had two. Huntington Beach held senior Bailey Weber, a USC-bound member of the U.S. women’s junior national team, to a single counterattack goal.

“We wanted to make sure that we took Bailey out of the game, that she didn’t beat us,” Oilers coach Mark Canner said. “We accomplished that part of our game plan. I think in our drop [defense], we got lost one or two times … but our goalie Marina stepped up and made big blocks throughout the whole game. I was happy.

“We actually executed our offensive game plan really well. It was just putting the ball in the back of the net.”

Huntington Beach, behind 2-0 after the first quarter, cut its deficit in half when senior captain Maddie Bockman scored a power-play goal, assisted by junior Nicca Falah, with 5:53 remaining in the first half. But the Oilers would go more than 19 minutes before finding the back of the net again.

Falah, who leads Huntington Beach with 63 goals this season, scored her only goal with 23 seconds left in the game.

Canner said the Oilers have never beaten Newport Harbor. That becomes a clear goal in the league finale next Wednesday, one which could help Huntington Beach’s seeding in the Division 2 playoffs.

“We’re really focused on Newport and CIF now,” Hyham said. “It’s not live or die on getting league champs. I’m excited for the rest of our season. [We want to] end strong.”

matthew.szabo@latimes.com

Twitter: @mjszabo