Corona del Mar Girls Come a Long Way in Short Time

Corona del Mar, leading the Pacific Coast League and 19-5 overall, is engineering one of the biggest turnarounds of the girls’ basketball season. The team was 8-18 last season, 0-10 in the Sea View League.

“I’m surprised things have come so easily to us,” said Coach Elbert Davis, whose program has 35 players, about 20 more than when he took over three seasons ago. “With a young team, you lose games you shouldn’t and it’s tough to come with the same intensity every game. But we’ve been coming with intensity every game.

“Next year, we’re going to have to beef up the schedule to get that respect--and playing tougher teams is only going to help us down the road in the playoffs.”

Corona del Mar has only one senior, point guard Charlene Quon, who came into Thursday’s game against Estancia averaging 9.4 points and two assists while keeping turnovers to a minimum. Her successor, sophomore Andrea Gruber, was averaging three assists.

But the central figure in Corona del Mar’s success is Kristen McCoy, a 5-foot-9 junior forward who was averaging 16.1 points and 10.2 rebounds, shooting 44.1% from the field and 71.8% from the free-throw line. McCoy’s sister, Jackie, was shooting 46.7% from the field.

The team has thrived on its full-court, man-to man defense. “Nothing special--we just come at you,” Davis said. “We only have nine girls on the roster, and we use them all.”

MONKEY BUSINESS

It’s hard to imagine county scoring leader Giuliana Mendiola having a monkey on her back--a team on her shoulders, perhaps, but not a monkey.

But she said El Toro’s victory over then-No. 2 San Clemente last week was just that, a huge relief.

“I’ve never beaten San Clemente,” said Mendiola, who scored 34 points in her team’s 76-61 victory. “Personally, it means a lot. And also for the team.”

The Chargers play host to second-ranked Brea Olinda Saturday.

LOOKING AHEAD

In addition to the Brea-El Toro girls’ showdown on Saturday, Capistrano Valley plays at Mater Dei in a reprise of their South Coast League days, and San Clemente plays at Santa Margarita, which began this week with a victory over Mater Dei.

In boys’ action, Loara plays at No. 10 El Dorado tonight in an Empire League game that could determine the league champion. Fullerton could get back into position to win the Freeway League with a victory over fifth-ranked Troy at the Warriors’ gym.

On Saturday, top-ranked Mater Dei faces Concord De La Salle in the Nike Extravaganza at 7:30 p.m. at the Pyramid in Long Beach. It will be a rematch of a close game won earlier this season by the Monarchs. Second-ranked Ocean View will also compete in the event, against Servite at 10 a.m. So will No. 6 Los Alamitos, which plays Long Beach Poly at 6 p.m., and No. 8 Santa Margarita, which takes on Glendora at 1 p.m.

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Staff writer Ben Bolch contributed to this report.

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