Buena Escapes Chicago Winter Frozenland
Buena High always has been a step ahead of its girls’ basketball opponents. Last week, the Bulldogs even beat Mother Nature.
While returning from a tournament in Tennessee, the Bulldogs had a connecting flight in Chicago on New Year’s Day.
Shortly after the team left Chicago, the city was paralyzed by 17 inches of snow and 63-mph winds. Many flights out of O’Hare International Airport were canceled.
“We got out just before the major storm hit,” Buena Coach Joe Vaughan said. “We could have been in a nice little situation, but we were very fortunate.”
Buena finished 3-1 and took fifth place at the Greene County (Tenn.) tournament, the Bulldogs’ second strong tournament showing. They finished ninth at the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions, defeating South Sioux City (Neb.) and Berkeley, both ranked among the top 10 in the nation at the time, and losing to then fourth-ranked Murrah (Miss.) by three points in overtime.
Still, the Bulldogs (11-2), ranked No. 1 in the region by The Times, have not cracked the national rankings and are ranked seventh in the West Region.
“I have no idea [why],” Vaughan said. “I guess they don’t think we’re very good. But the kids have hung in there.”
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Alemany guard Kate Beckler last week shattered the scoring record at the Alamo Shootout in San Antonio.
Beckler, who made 34 of 38 free-throw attempts, finished the three-game tournament with 88 points, eclipsing the previous mark of 71.
There were some extra perks for Alemany during its trip to Texas.
Players from each tournament team received complimentary tickets to the Alamo Bowl game between Purdue and Kansas State.
“We walked a mile and a half to get to the stadium, and we sat in the nosebleed seats, but everyone had a great time,” Coach Melissa Hearlihy said.
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El Camino Real’s Chrissy McClain wore only one knee-high sock during a game last week.
“Sometimes she wears two, sometimes none,” teammate Cara Blumfield said.
Said Coach Lori Chandler: “She’s a different breed. You never know what she’ll do. It’s whatever is the flavor of the day.”
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Defending Marmonte League co-champion Royal, expected to battle Simi Valley, Moorpark and Newbury Park for league supremacy, was dealt a bad break--literally--when standout guard Kristin Galbreath was diagnosed with a broken right hand last week.
Galbreath is expected to miss at least four weeks.
“Missing her is really going to make it tough,” Coach Mike Kohl said.
It didn’t show Monday night, when the Highlanders beat Newbury Park, 67-55, in a league opener.
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Glendale struggled through the holidays, losing four of six games after senior shooting guard Evette Petrossian was sidelined with a broken nose.
Petrossian, who averaged 16 points during the summer, returned Tuesday night and the Dynamiters (11-4) defeated Canyon, 57-50, to avenge a December loss to the Cowboys in the Valencia tournament final.
Glendale is 9-0 with Petrossian in the lineup.
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Burroughs Coach Doug Nicol made an off-season bet with his staff that he could make it through the season without receiving a technical foul.
The bet didn’t last long. Nicol was assessed two technical fouls and was ejected from a Nordhoff tournament game last month.
“That’s going to cost me dearly with my assistants,” he said.
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Hart guard Emily Reyna will miss the rest of the season with a back injury, Coach Dave Munroe said.
Reyna, whose twin sister Renee missed much of last season with back problems, originally was expected to return after the holidays .
But all the news hasn’t been bad for the Reyna family.
Renee, who has a 4.6 grade-point average, and Emily, who has a 4.5 GPA, learned recently that they have been accepted to Stanford.
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Keeping tabs: Former All-Southern Section forward Stacy Cobb, who helped lead Bell-Jeff to the 1997 Division IV-AA championship, is a redshirt freshman at Grambling.
Correspondents Dave Desmond and Mike Bresnahan contributed to this notebook.