Los Amigos struggles against Buena Park

By Andrew TurnerStaff Writer

Dec. 20, 2017 9:20 PM PT

Reporting from BUENA PARK —

Los Amigos High girls’ basketball coach Nate Werdel is not about to hang his head over a lopsided loss.

He understands the hardship that some of his kids have gone through, including the departure of former coach Sabrina White after last season’s CIF Southern Section Division 4A playoff appearance.

Relationships take time, and so does building a program. A matter of nine games was not going to be sufficient, but it is promising to see that the numbers participating in girls’ basketball at the school did not decline with the introduction of a new coaching staff.

For now, Werdel is preaching patience, bringing along his girls with achievable goals through every step of the process.

Los Amigos had to play for the moral victory on Wednesday night, as host Buena Park scored the first 19 points in its 58-16 nonleague win.

“That’s exactly what we’re doing right now,” Werdel said of providing his team with manageable goals in a lopsided game. “Everything that we do, we give them a goal [as in], ‘Let’s get eight points this quarter. Let’s get 14 points this quarter.’ We’re just trying to give them little baby steps, little tiny goals that they should be able to make per quarter.”

After trailing 37-4 at halftime, Los Amigos (3-6) scored 10 points in the third quarter before a 40-point margin abbreviated the game with a running clock for the final six minutes.

Junior center Maria Andrade led the Lobos with eight points to go with four rebounds. Senior forward Melissa Figueroa added six points and four rebounds, and sophomore guard Alex Lopez had two points.

The Coyotes made it difficult for the Lobos to get the ball across the half-court line, collecting 18 steals in the game. Senior guard Destiny Ortiz led Buena Park (4-3) in that category, recording five steals to go with 13 points, six rebounds and four assists.

“It was just more about communication than thinking about it,” Coyotes sophomore forward Isabelle Avalos said of her team’s effective full-court press. “We don’t do anything together unless we talk about it.

“That’s why when you’re on the court, you have to make sure that you’re communicating with your other teammates. You can’t just sit there.”

Avalos scored 10 of her game-high 20 points in the first quarter. She added six rebounds, three steals and two assists.

Senior guard Sara Weber added 16 points, four rebounds, four steals and three assists for the Coyotes.

Buena Park 58, Los Amigos 16

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Los Amigos 2 – 2 – 10 – 2 — 16

Buena Park 21 – 16 – 13 – 8 — 58

LA – Andrade 8, Figueroa 6, Lopez 2.

3-pt. goals – None.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.

BP – Avalos 20, Weber 16, Ortiz 13, Hunt 3, Castillo 2, Scott 2, Velasquez 2.