Harvard-Westlake Threesome Returns to Face Former Team

Forwards Karina Siam and Nyasha Bralock and Coach Melissa Hearlihy of Harvard-Westlake High face their former team on Friday, when the Wolverines play Alemany in a Mission League girls’ basketball game at L.A. Baptist.

The trio helped Alemany win the league championship and reach the state Division III playoffs last season, but Siam and Bralock transferred after Hearlihy took the coaching job at Harvard-Westlake.

“It’s going to be difficult going there and having to face my old teammates and all the parents,” Bralock said. “I felt so close to them.”

After three seasons with Alemany, Bralock and Siam might instinctually wander into the Indian locker room.

“No visitors,” Coach Brandie Murrish of Alemany joked. “We keep it pretty tight in there.”

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Two of the region’s top former girls’ players squared off as coaches in a freshman game Saturday night.

Mikko Giordano, a former All-Ventura County player at Buena who played at Arizona, coached her alma mater against Harvard-Westlake and former Alemany star Carly Funicello, a former Times Valley player of the year who played at UCLA.

Buena won the nonleague game.

“It was nice to see her again,” Giordano said of her former Pacific 10 Conference rival. “I didn’t know she was coaching at Harvard-Westlake.”

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It has been a good year for freshman girls’ players in the region.

Guards Jeanine Deno of Crescenta Valley, Tulyah Gaines of Burroughs and Mariama Wrighster of Alemany lead their teams in scoring, and guards Stefanie Clark of Harvard-Westlake and Meggie Wagner of Ventura will play key roles if either of their teams advance in the playoffs.

Brandi Kimble of Hart is already among the region’s top forwards.

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Defending Channel League co-champion Ventura lost its first two league games this season, to Buena and San Marcos.

The loss to Buena, the nation’s No. 1 team, was predictable, but losing to San Marcos caught some by surprise.

With no starter taller than 5 feet 9, the Cougars struggled against a San Marcos team with three 6-footers.

“They’re huge,” said Ventura Coach Ann Larson, whose team has made 125 three-point baskets. “We tried to shoot over them. We just didn’t make many of them.”

Only three Ventura players scored in the game, guards Katy O’Brien, Jenni Dooley and Kelly Fay.

Freshman guard Meggie Wagner, who had two pins placed in her right hand after breaking it last month, is expected back before the playoffs.

“You don’t appreciate the things she did until she’s sitting in a pink cast next to you on the bench,” Larson said.

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Crescenta Valley (9-9), a longtime Pacific League power, lost its first two league games last week, but was bolstered by the return of forwards Ashley Powell and Emily Forsythe.

Powell missed five games with a broken finger and Forsythe missed four games because of illness.

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The Feb. 3 nonleague girls’ game between Buena and Narbonne at Buena is almost sold out, Buena Coach Joe Vaughan said.

The game could be the biggest in region history. Narbonne, the defending national champion, was ranked No. 5 last week in two national polls. Buena (17-0) is ranked No. 1.