CdM girls’ basketball beats Huntington Beach, setting pace in Sunset League
Corona del Mar’s girls’ basketball team caromed through the second of three successive early-campaign showdowns for the top spot in the Sunset League, turning a quick run at the start into, on the surface, a snug and vital victory over Huntington Beach.
Saturday afternoon’s 44-32 decision on the Oilers’ court was vital, for sure, but comfortable? Not so much. A chaotic series of scrums nearly everywhere on the floor, so many of them producing a turnover (and often two), left little space for much else.
“It wasn’t,” Huntington Beach coach Russ McClurg put it, “for the faint of heart.”
The Sea Kings (11-7, 3-0 in the Sunset League) used a 10-0 run to take command early in the first quarter, with Sienna Knodegah scoring seven of her team-best 11 points on two fastbreak chances and a three-pointer, then withstood a second-half challenge and pulled away in the last four minutes or so.
They did so with 19 turnovers — one fewer than Huntington Beach (11-6, 2-1) — and while shooting 15% from the field through the second and third quarters. The Oilers in that span: 17.4%. A combined seven for 43.
“Any time you can get a win in Huntington, you take it, and you run out as quickly as you can,” CdM coach Brason Alexander said. “We’ll take it. There’s some moments [that weren’t great], but [playing the second of] two games in two days, there’s going to be some ugliness. I’ll take it.”
Center Kayly Honig grabbed 10 rebounds, scored seven points and with forward Lark Walz led Corona del Mar’s defensive effort, and Sawyer Blumenkranz and Alexa Rokos contributed 10 points apiece.
Emily Hoang, one of three sophomores in the Oilers’ lineup, scored 20 points with six rebounds.
The victory followed Friday night’s 47-45 thriller over Fountain Valley (12-6, 3-1), another title contender, on Honig’s basket with four seconds to play and gave the Sea Kings the Sunset lead with about a month to go. Now comes Tuesday’s home showdown with league favorite Los Alamitos (12-5, 2-0), the league’s only other unbeaten foe and something of a rival.
Corona del Mar shared the Surf League title with the Griffins two years ago and finished second to them last season, but it has lost four of the past five meetings, last year’s by 32 and 34 points.
“We want nothing more than to win that championship. It’s going to be a big challenge to see who gets it this year ...,” Honig said. “I think our team can play up to that level, but we have to be ourselves. We can’t let any mistake get to us, and we have to play through everything. We have to keep going, play at the fastest speed we’ve ever played at. We can’t let anything get to our heads.”
Alexander says it’s “going to be fun.”
“They’re good. They’re fast,” he said. “We’ve had battles with them the last couple of years. We’ve got to get ready for them. We’ve got to take care of the ball. They turn turnovers into points really fast. And you’ve got to rebound.”
Neither side took particularly good care of the ball against highly aggressive defenses Saturday. Zones collapsed on whoever handled the ball, paths to outlets were cut off, and possession — often one after another — was thrown or fumbled or taken away.
“This was the first game we’ve played in a while, where it was, like three [defenders] on one,” Honig said. “Every time I got the ball in the middle, there’d be three people on me, so I just had to kick it out. It was a lot to adjust to. ... We’re going to take a lot from this.”
Corona del Mar looked sharp at the start, forcing six turnovers to build a 19-8 lead late in the first quarter, then suddenly went cold. The Sea Kings missed their first seven second-quarter shots and turned the ball over six times — on four successive possessions at one point — as Huntington Beach pulled within three points.
A Walz three-pointer, two Blumenkranz free throws, and Honig’s basket inside from Walz’s feed restored a double-digit edge by halftime, and it was 28-17 when Honig again finished inside. The Oilers trimmed the deficit to four points as Hoang scored eight points in a 9-3 run. CdM responded with a fluid finish, scoring six points off quick transitions and closing with a Walz 3-pointer.
Huntington Beach is aiming for a playoff berth, more if possible.
“I love the fact that we played hard tonight,” McClurg said. “I feel like our league is very balanced, and this will definitely help us grow, since we’re such a young team. I’m excited about the future with our kids.”
Sunset League
Corona del Mar 44, Huntington Beach 32
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Corona del Mar 19 - 7 - 5 - 13 — 44
Huntington Beach 10 - 6 - 9 - 7 — 32
CdM — Knodegah 11, Blumenkranz 10, Rokos 10, Honig 7, Walz 6.
3-pt. goals — Walz 2, Rokos 1, Knodegah 1.
Fouled out — None.
Technicals — None.
HB — Hoang 20, Miyai 6, Savage 5, Mori 1.
3-pt. goals — Hoang 2.
Fouled out — None.
Technicals — None.
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