New Look Could Help the Comanches Get Over the Hump

As the new season dawns, so does the new face of at least one Orange County girls’ basketball team.

Canyon’s face lift could turn the Comanches into an unexpected power. They have four starters back from last season’s 12-13 team. Also returning is Meghan O’Neill, a 5-foot-10 junior guard who started at Canyon before moving to Missouri.

Jenny Crews, a 5-4 point guard, transferred from Alaska. Trish Christian, a 5-8 sophomore guard, transferred from Valencia. Brandie Mercer, a 5-7 guard, transferred from Loara.

Crews, Christian and Mercer started at their former schools.

“Last year, we really didn’t have any depth, to put it bluntly,” Canyon Coach Nelson Herrera said. “We had a starting five and that was the extent of it. We can go eight deep this year. We went from an average team to a decent team that could contend for the league title.”

However, there is a “but. . .”

“We can be a great team or we can lay an egg,” Herrera continued. “It looks good on paper, but I don’t know if it translates on the floor.”

Herrera admitted all the new faces required some getting used to by the old ones as the team’s makeup changed.

“We did have a couple of team meetings,” he said. It was an attempt to soften any resentment that might have arrived with the new bodies. “It took a little time for the girls to accept it. But the girls came in and found their niche. It’s a happy family.”

With the change in personnel, the Comanches are also changing their style. They’re going to play an up-tempo game.

“From what I’ve seen of this team, these kids have a lot of athletic talent,” Herrera said. “They don’t have the height, but they can really play and get after it.”

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Jenhwyfar Carlisle, who played last year for Dana Hills, has changed the spelling of her name. It’s Jennifer. Same pronunciation.

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With three starters--Mary Anderson, Natasha Combs and Nicole Hoperich--back from last season’s team, three other returners (including former starter Sarina Kissel, who sat out last season with a knee injury) and two transfers, this is the year for Capistrano Valley to live up to its potential.

Coach Pete Belanto says his team has more talent than the one that reached the section semifinals during Angie White’s junior season in 1992, and certainly more than the one that reached the finals the following season.

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Bianca Larson finally makes her first varsity start tonight when Villa Park plays host to Capistrano Valley.

Larson, a 6-3 junior center, was a reserve at Mater Dei for two years before her much talked-about transfer. Tonight, she tries to build a new beginning after ending her Monarch career with the best performance of her high school life.

In a 51-50 loss in the Southern Section Division I-A semifinals to Ventura Buena, Larson (playing because of teammates’ foul trouble) scored 11 points, including Mater Dei’s final seven.

The Monarchs, who finished the year 21-7 and didn’t reach the state title game for the first time in three seasons, lost when Karen McAleney scored her only basket of the game with 14 seconds left.

Larson’s arrival has meant enough to Spartan Coach Len Whitacre that he has designed the offense around her.

“We plan on putting the ball in her hands,” he said, “and she plans on putting it in the basket.”

Larson averaged 2.1 points at Mater Dei, shooting 28% last season.

It will be interesting to note Villa Park’s progress with Whitacre returning after a three-season absence. It thrived as Whitacre compiled a 35-11 record over two seasons, including 21-4 in 1994. Since then, Villa Park has gone 42-32.

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Jerri Armendariz, who transferred to Brea, averaged 20.3 points last year for University. When Armendariz dislocated her elbow during practice a few weeks ago, she was on Brea’s junior varsity team. Junior varsity.

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Sonora hasn’t won a league title in more than 15 years, and it has been that long since the Raiders reached the county top 10. But Mindy Clark, a 6-4 sophomore who averaged nine rebounds and seven points last year, and Sarah Fister, a 6-3 junior who averaged 14.5 points and 12 rebounds, are two big reasons why the team could have a breakout season.

Only Los Alamitos, which has the Geoffroy sisters, senior Kristin (6-6) and freshman Lindsay (6-5), appears bigger.

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Calvary Chapel has improved from 6-15 to 10-12 to 19-10 in the past three seasons. This season, it would be surprising if the Eagles don’t win 20 games.

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Talk about your rebuilding years, not a single first- or second-team all-league player from the Pacific Coast League returns this season. Senior center Brooke Hyman of Aliso Niguel, who signed with Pittsburgh, is playing in Randolph, N.J., and sophomore guard Kalena Jackson transferred from Costa Mesa to Newport Harbor. Hyman was on the first team, Jackson the second.

Although Laguna Hills will drop off dramatically from last season’s state championship campaign with the graduation of four senior starters, including Tayyiba Haneef (Long Beach State), Tamara Inoue (California) and Whitney Houser (USC), the season doesn’t look totally bleak for the Hawks once the Pacific Coast League season begins.

The league is wide open, and Erin Larsen returns after starting all season. Also, it’s likely her teammates learned a trick or two during the school’s first state title run.

Plus, one other thing: The Hawks, after upgrading their schedule last season, face many of those teams this season. The better the competition they face, the better they should get. And no one in the PCL plays a tougher schedule.