Santa Margarita Pulls Surprise

Brooke Figge scored the decisive goal on a skip shot from seven meters with one second left to give Santa Margarita, the No. 3-ranked girls’ water polo team in the Southern Section Division I coaches’ poll, an 11-10 upset of top-ranked Newport Harbor in a nonleague game Friday at Saddleback College.

The Eagles (15-5) led, 3-2, after the first quarter and 7-4 at halftime but had to rally for the victory. Newport Harbor scored three times in the third quarter to pull within 8-7, and Amanda Barto gave the Sailors a 10-9 edge with a goal with 3:43 left.

Santa Margarita junior Darby Anderson tied the score, at 10-10, with a two-meter shot with slightly more than a minute left.

Anderson, who scored three goals in the second quarter and finished with six in the game, has 59 goals this season.

Figge finished with three goals and an assist and has 31 goals this year. The Eagles also got four assists from Mary Cousineau. Kacey Anderson, Darby’s younger sister, scored once, and Santa Margarita goalie Stephanie Peckham made 13 saves.

Newport Harbor (17-2) had beaten the Eagles, 5-2, in the semifinals of the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions earlier this month.

Ashling Taylor had five goals and an assist, and Barto finished with three goals to lead the Sailors.

UCLA-bound senior Anne Belden, tightly guarded by a committee of Santa Margarita defenders that included Cousineau, Figge, Alex McLain and Stephanie Savayan, was scoreless for the first time this season.

-- Lauren Peterson

Boys’ Basketball

Freshman guards Oscar Bellfield and Larry Drew made major contributions to help 11th-ranked Taft (17-4, 5-1) pull into a first-place tie in the West Valley League with a 77-65 victory over 13th-ranked Cleveland (15-6, 5-1) at Taft.

Taft’s leading scorer, Calvin Haynes, went to the sideline with his fourth foul with 5:02 left in the third quarter and the Toreadors clinging to a 45-40 lead.

Bellfield then contributed two three-pointers to finish with 16 points. Drew scored nine of his 11 points in the fourth quarter. Haynes led Taft with 28 points.

Cleveland, which defeated Taft by 13 points earlier in the season, when Haynes also ran into foul trouble, received 30 points from Jason Hill, a 6-foot-5 forward who has committed to Cal State Northridge.

-- Eric Sondheimer

Girls’ Basketball

Brea Olinda ran its league winning streak to 189 games with a 43-28 Century League victory over host Villa Park.

The Ladycats, ranked No. 25 in the Southland by The Times, outscored Villa Park, 14-6, in the fourth quarter.

In the first meeting between the league rivals earlier this month, Brea Olinda (15-6, 6-0) rallied from an eight-point deficit in the final two minutes to keep the streak alive.

Kimee Goeggel and Jeannette Pohlen scored 12 points each for Brea Olinda. Katie Kissee scored 10 for Villa Park (16-6, 4-2).

-- Dan Arritt