Girls’ Basketball: Bruening is PCL’s best

Corona del Mar High junior forward Natalia Bruening has earned Pacific Coast League MVP honors for girls’ basketball.

Bruening is joined on the first team all-league by senior forward Maria King and senior point guard Brianna Westrup.

Bruening posted team-best averages of 17 points and 11 rebounds per game for the Sea Kings, adding two assists and two blocks. She was the fifth-leading scorer on Orange County and scored a career-high 39 points against Valencia.

Bruening helped CdM go 23-9, and 8-2 in league. The Sea Kings won their final six league games to share the title with Woodbridge, just CdM’s second league title in program history and first since 1999-2000. CdM advanced to the CIF Southern Section Division 3AA semifinals before falling at top-seeded eventual champion North Torrance, 56-26.

CdM then defeated San Diego Kearny for its first CIF State playoff game in program history before losing at Orange Lutheran, 37-24, in a CIF State Southern California Regional Division III quarterfinal game.

Westrup, a soccer player headed to the University of Virginia, excelled in her first year of high school hoops. She averaged eight points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals per game. Westrup upped her scoring to 11 points per game in league.

King averaged seven points, three rebounds and three assists for the Sea Kings.

CdM junior guard Kelly Tam earned second-team all-league accolades.

— From staff reports