Everett Is Back, So Is Chaminade

The West Hills Chaminade boys’ basketball team is back at full strength, and that was bad news for Los Angeles Loyola Monday.

Loyola, ranked No. 15 in the Southland by The Times, fell to the Eagles, 75-73, in overtime in a Mission League game.

Marcus Everett, a four-year player for Chaminade, made a three-point basket to force overtime.

He had missed several contests early in the season because of an ankle injury suffered when he was playing receiver for the Eagle football team.

He missed a basketball tournament while preparing for the CaliFlorida Bowl football game, and Chaminade’s one-point loss to La Canada St. Francis last Friday came when he was on a football recruiting trip to Oregon.

Senior guard Adrian Aye-Darko also missed the St. Francis game while taking a football recruiting trip to Harvard, and junior guard Jeff Martin missed Chaminade’s 58-48 league-opening loss to No. 13 North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake last week after being ejected from the previous game against Chatsworth.

The Eagles (8-9, 1-2) have gone from No. 18 in the preseason rankings to scrambling to finish among the league’s top three teams for the ninth consecutive season. With the victory over Loyola, they are beginning to feel better about their chances.

“I’m actually pleased with our record,” Coach Bryan Cantwell said. “Our nine losses are to pretty good teams.”

Dan Arritt

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Van Nuys Grant has already attempted 413 three-point shots, and its best long-distance shooter, Max Hutchinson, is sidelined until next month because of a broken foot.

The Lancers are shooting 41% from three-point range, led by junior Mike Danielian, who had eight three-point baskets in a 36-point effort against Lake Balboa Birmingham. Hutchinson set the school record last season with nine in one game.

“We’ve always given shooters the green light,” Coach Howard Levine said.

Eric Sondheimer

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Boys’ Soccer

Thousand Oaks will be at full strength for only the third game this season when the Lancers play host to Simi Valley Royal today at 5 p.m. in a Marmonte League game.

Defending champion Thousand Oaks (14-3, 2-1 in league) is regarded as the most talented team in the league, but the Lancers have been without some of their best players because of commitments to such things as national-level club tournaments or participation in U.S. Soccer Federation training camps.

“These are once-in-a-lifetime opportunities ... I’m not going to tell them they can’t participate in them,” Coach Mark Tietjen said.

Royal (13-1-2, 3-0-1), ranked No. 4 by The Times, has won eight consecutive games, but Tietjen likes his team’s chances.

“Without [our top players], we’re a pretty good team,” he said. “And with them, we’re even better.”

John Ortega

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Girls’ Soccer

North Hills L.A. Baptist senior forward Kristy Krohn had three goals and five assists Monday as the Knights (12-1) defeated Simi Valley Grace Brethren, 11-0, in a nonleague game. She has 30 goals this season -- 110 in her high school career -- and recorded her season-high assist total Monday. Krohn and senior midfielder Kristin Dyer, who scored three goals Monday and often assists on Krohn’s goals, were key players on a Knight team that advanced to the second round of the Southern Section Division V playoffs last season.

“We’re starting to connect,” said Krohn, who had 32 goals last season. “Teams will mark me. I feel like I have to feed [the ball to] someone else and then get it back.”

Elia Powers

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Wrestling

Tom Chavez, a junior heavyweight at Huntington Beach Marina, suffered a season-ending injury when he dislocated his left hip in a semifinal in the Norwalk Glenn tournament on Saturday. Chavez was wrestling against tournament winner Jonathon Moreno of Norwalk Glenn when the hip dislocated.

Marina Coach Andrew Bonsall said Chavez went home from the hospital on Monday and is doing fine.

Travis Bengard went 5-0 with a major decision and four pins, including a fall over John Hughes of Ramona in the 215-pound finals, to lead Laguna Hills to a first-place finish and a tournament-record 273.5 points at the Orange Glen tournament in San Diego on Saturday. Bengard was one of 13 Hawks to place among the top five.

Rafer Weigel

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Girls’ Water Polo

A hardship waiver for Los Alamitos High junior Sara Wong was denied Monday by the Southern Section, meaning Wong will remain ineligible for varsity competition for the school year after her transfer from Huntington Beach Marina.

Los Alamitos also must forfeit a 15-0 season-opening nonleague victory over Irvine in which Wong played on Dec. 2.

Wong was ruled ineligible because there was no bona fide change of residence, section spokesman Thom Simmons said.

Santa Ana Foothill (12-0) will put its 49-game winning streak on the line today in a Sea View League opener at Newport Harbor.

The Knights’ last defeat came to Santa Margarita, 7-6, on Feb. 2, 2002.

“This is the biggest game we’ve faced this year,” Foothill Coach Dave Mikesell said.

Foothill, the Southern Section Division I champion the last four seasons, has lost only three times in 3 1/2 seasons. Newport Harbor (8-1) has two of those victories, including one by forfeit.

-- Lauren Peterson