El Dorado’s Wade Hits the Boards, Gets a Leg Up on Her Competition

One of the big reasons for El Dorado’s success has been the presence of Carly Wade in the post.

“She’s one of the most courageous athletes I’ve ever seen,” said her coach, Wayne Carlson. “She plays hard at practice and she brings everyone else up.”

Nothing particularly courageous about playing hard, but Wade has undergone three surgeries to the same left knee.

Wade didn’t play her freshman season but was a first-team All-Empire League player as a sophomore. She had knee surgery before her junior season and again after re-injuring the knee in her first full game in the lineup.

All three surgeries were to repair her torn anterior cruciate ligament. “She played a little against Century and then re-injured it against Kennedy,” Carlson said. “She rolled over and that was it.”

But this season, Wade is rolling opponents. She is averaging 11 points and 10 rebounds.

“She has such a strong inside presence for us,” Carlson said. “Once in a while, she hobbles, but she rebounds for us, and you have to have that in girls’ basketball, somebody who can really play and be a force inside.”

Carlson said Wade is not the only reason for the Golden Hawks’ success. Junior wing Nicole Gerber and point guard Melissa Jacob “have improved an awful lot too.”

“[Century’s Elizabeth Mendoza] scored only one basket against Gerber,” Carlson said. “We made her our defensive stopper.”

El Dorado can essentially guarantee itself the league title on Thursday with a home victory against Century.

THE DOW JONZ

Whose stock is up or down this week:

* Lara Gray, Woodbridge. Up. Scored 12 points and had eight rebounds in victory over then No. 4 Irvine, and 24 points in victory against then-No. 8 Santa Margarita, including 20 during the second-half comeback.

* Edison. Down. The Chargers were doing just enough to win--until last week. Most notable, though, was the margin of their losses--by 29 points to No. 1 Esperanza, and 20 points to then-No. 9 Huntington Beach. In the loss to Esperanza, twins Rachael and Bianca Ziemann scored all but one point.

* Carrie Twaddell, El Toro. Up. Averaged 24 points, 10.6 rebounds and 7.6 blocked shots in three games for El Toro, which is in second place in the South Coast League.

LOOKING AHEAD

If Foothill is to have any chance of defending its Century League title, it must beat Santa Ana Valley tonight at home. The Falcons ended Foothill’s 22-game winning streak earlier this season.

Troy struggled in December but hastened its return by taking a 41-point lead on rival Sonora in the first round of Freeway League play. They face each other again on Wednesday, this time at Sonora.

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If you have an item or idea for the girls’ basketball report, you can fax us at (714)966-5663 or e-mail us at martin.henderson@latimes.com

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GIRLS’ BASKETBALL TOP 10

Orange County Sportswriters’ Poll

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Pos. School (League) Rec 1. Esperanza (Sunset) 19-4 2. Brea Olinda (Orange) 16-4 3. San Clemente (South Coast) 20-3 4. Troy (Freeway) 18-4 5. Woodbridge (Sea View) 22-0 6. Irvine (Sea View) 17-4 7. Huntington Beach (Sunset) 12-9 8. Edison (Sunset) 16-6 9. Santa Margarita (Serra) 16-6 10. Rosary (Serra) 19-6

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Others: El Dorado (18-4), Laguna Hills (14-9), Westminster (16-5)