It’s Still No Sweat for Buena

Hold the envelope, please.

The race seems to get a little tighter every year, but the winner of the Channel League once again will be. . .Buena High.

Having won at least a share of the past nine girls’ basketball league titles, the Bulldogs return their starting backcourt from last year’s Southern Section Division I-A championship team.

Shooting guard Renae Hofmann was second in team scoring last season with 11.9 points per game and first in steals, with 3.4 per game.

Also returning is junior point guard Kelly Murray, who finished second in assists (3.6) and third in steals (2.8) last season.

Nicole Greathouse, who averaged 19.1 points and 11.4 rebounds per game, is now at UC Santa Barbara, but her younger sister, Kelly, a 6-foot-2 freshman, is expected to be a force down low.

The Bulldogs beat league challenger Ventura, 38-32, in the Buena tournament championship game Dec. 13.

Still, Buena is being tailed by both Ventura and Santa Barbara, who tied for second last year, four games behind Buena.

“We know the position we’re in,” Buena Coach Joe Vaughan said. “Everybody wants us. Their season is made if they beat Buena. The kids have to understand that, because on certain nights against some of those teams, you better be ready to play.”

The Bulldogs better get ready quickly.

Their second league game comes Tuesday at Ventura and their third, Thursday, is at home against Santa Barbara.

“All of my teammates are aware of the first couple of games,” Hofmann said. “They’re going to be intense, tough games.”

Ventura has a tough backcourt in Rhiannon Potkey and Erin Oshita.

Potkey has a knack for finding the open player and averaged a league-high 7.2 assists per game last season. The 5-6 senior also averaged 8.2 points.

Oshita, a 5-8 senior, is more of shooter, averaging a team-high 10.1 points per game last season.

Santa Barbara, with strength in the front court, is the opposite of Ventura. Lisa Willett, a 6-1 sophomore, is one of the top post players in the league.

Lauren Brooker and Aqueelah Thompson, both of whom are 6-3, will also help down low.

Dos Pueblos has what Buena’s Vaughan called its “best team in five years.”

Sarah Estrada, a 6-0 center, gives the Chargers a post presence while Lothsamee Siraranta, a senior guard, has speed.

Rio Mesa could crack the top half of the league with a good dose of quickness and a new coach, former Buena standout Mary Klemm. Height, though, is a problem for the Spartans, who have no one taller than 5-9 Sharon Fernandez.

Junior guard Shira Kupperman is back for San Marcos, a strong defensive team, but all-league selection Stefanie Christoferson graduated.

Oxnard won the Southern Section Division I-AA championship last season, but Danielle Curtis and Nicole Black graduated, and Jaliene Bradley, a Times’ All-Ventura County selection as a sophomore, transferred to Channel Islands.

Hueneme, 3-21 last season, had Monique Taylor, an all-league honorable mention last year as a freshman, transfer to Channel Islands.