HIGH SCHOOL NOTEBOOK

Calabasas (3-16, 2-1) was tied for first place in the Frontier League boys’ standings before losing, 60-45, in its showdown against Nordhoff on Tuesday night, but first-year Coach Russell White wasn’t surprised.

“We’ve definitely been waiting for this,” White said. “Our nonleague schedule was just brutal, but I think playing all those tough teams is starting to pay off.”

This is not to say White would wish a 1-16 start upon anyone.

“It’s hard to go through something like that,” he said. “It was a character-building two months for me. I was telling the [players] that in seven years as a player and five years as a coach, I had never had a losing season.”

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Sherri Cvijanovich, girls’ coach at Santa Clara, let her feelings be known after Santa Paula defeated the Saints, 61-49, in a Frontier League game for first place on Tuesday night.

“My kids just didn’t play the game the way they’re capable of playing,” she said. “They didn’t play the way they needed to play in this game. [Santa Paula] beat us [to loose balls] all game.”

That was well illustrated in the second quarter when a smaller Santa Paula team got three consecutive offensive rebounds on one possession before freshman Sarah Ruiz hit a three-pointer to give the Cardinals a 16-12 lead.