Prep Review : Fountain Valley Girls Top Seeded at Marina-Edison

The Marina-Edison girls’ basketball tournament, which figures to be the most competitive girls’ holiday tournament in Orange County, begins Tuesday.

Top-seeded Fountain Valley and second-seeded El Toro head the 16-team tournament.

Edison, Esperanza, Katella, Mater Dei, Mission Viejo and Valencia also will challenge for the championship.

The first-round pairings:

Mission Viejo vs. El Modena, 9:30 a.m.; Katella vs. Marina, 11 a.m.; Lakewood vs. Foothill, 12:30 p.m.; Esperanza vs. Fountain Valley, 2 p.m.; Huntington Beach vs. El Toro, 4 p.m.; Ocean View vs. Loara, 5:30 p.m.; Long Beach Wilson vs. Edison, 7 p.m.; Mater Dei vs. Valencia, 8:30 p.m.

Add Girls’ Tournaments: Brea-Olinda is the most notable absentee from the Marina-Edison tournament.

The Wildcats leave for the Bronx today to play in the Christ the King High tournament.

Before the season started, Brea Coach Mark Trakh said he thought he had picked the wrong season to take his young and inexperienced team to New York City.

However, with a 8-0 record and the Brea tournament title under their belts, the Wildcats appear to be ready to take on all comers. Even New Yorkers.

Boys’ Basketball Notes:

Los Alamitos, expected to challenge for the Empire League championship, got off to a dreadful start this season. The Griffins, playing a brutal nonleague schedule against such teams as El Toro, Mater Dei and Ocean View, were 0-6 heading into last week’s San Diego tournament.

And after dropping the first game of the tournament Monday, Los Alamitos was 0-7.

But since then, Los Alamitos has turned it around. The Griffins, playing just one senior on their roster, beat El Capitan, 83-42, Tuesday for their first victory.

That was followed by victories over Rancho Buena Vista, 72-56, and Helix, 61-60, which gave Los Alamitos the consolation championship. A basket by Mike Wilson with 30 seconds left in the game provided the winning margin for the Griffins (3-7).

When Keith Walker, a 6-5 junior forward at Brea, scored 43 points against El Dorado in a nonleague game Wednesday, he moved to second place on the school’s high-game list.

He also moved to No. 2 on his family’s list. Older brother Kevin, now a starter at UCLA, holds the Wildcat record with a 46-point game in 1985.

On Wednesday, Keith was 16 of 26 from the floor and had 11 rebounds as the Wildcats won, 81-70.

Jude Barbito of Anaheim sank 14 of 17 free throws in a 57-46 victory over Loara Thursday, an impressive feat. But it’s just the continuation of a hot streak for Barbito, a 6-foot senior guard. In his past two games, he has made 31 of 34 for a blistering 91.2% average.

Soccer Notes:

The 24-team Fountain Valley-Marina boys’ soccer tournament gets under way at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday. The championship game will be Thursday at 1:30 p.m.

The tournament features many of the top teams in Orange County, including Fountain Valley, Mater Dei, Mission Viejo and San Clemente.

Wrestling Notes:

Canyon, the two-time defending Southern Section 4-A champion, remained atop the county coaches’ poll last week. The Comanches’ impressive victory over Esperanza two weeks ago sent the Aztecs, who had been No. 2, all the way down to No. 10.

Here’s the coaches’ poll:

1. Canyon; 2. El Dorado; 3. Savanna; 4. Laguna Hills; 5. Valencia; 6. Mater Dei; 7. Edison; 8. Katella; 9. San Clemente; 10. Esperanza.