Narbonne Is Home After a 15-1 ‘Trip’

After 16 games on the road, Narbonne’s powerful girls’ basketball team finally will play a home game Friday against Dorsey.

Narbonne, however, is anything but road weary.

The Gauchos improved to 15-1 on Wednesday with a 71-29 Southeastern Conference victory over Gardena.

“We’ll probably be at home in the playoffs but we try to get on the road as much as possible to get the players used to performing in uncomfortable settings,” Narbonne Coach James Anderson said. “We went over to Cerritos the other night and played in front of a good crowd. That’s going to get them ready for when we really need to be at our best.”

Narbonne has had success with a balanced attack. Five Gaucho players are averaging more than 10 points a game, led by freshman Loree Moore at 14. Sophomore Ebony Hoffman and junior Jessica Cheeks average 12, junior Amber White 11 and junior Portia Mitchell 10.

Narbonne’s only loss was to Rancho Buena Vista, 58-57, in a tournament in Las Vegas during winter break. The Gauchos led by 13 at halftime but lost as Rancho Buena Vista made 30 of 33 free throws in the game. The following week, Narbonne avenged the loss with a 49-31 victory over Rancho Buena Vista in the Huntington Beach Marina tournament.

“We’ll be fine if we become more consistent,” Anderson said. “We jumped out to a big lead against a good San Clemente team and then hung on to win by a few points. We need to keep the intensity all the way through. Then we’ll see how good this team can be.”

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John Zepeda of Venice and John B. Tanner of Westchester were among 18 seniors presented this week with scholar-athlete awards by Daniel Freeman Hospital.

The awards were presented as part of the hospital’s Training to Win program, which provides free athletic and medical support services to area schools. The winners were chosen based on athletic and academic achievement and community involvement.