Marina finds its groove

Mike Sciacca

Call it a coming of age story for the Marina High girls’ basketball

team in the 2004-05 season.

A year after a young club went through some growing pains on the

court, the Lady Vikings found their groove this season and, just last

week, earned a share of the Sunset League championship.

Marina won its eighth consecutive game last Thursday by winning at

Edison, 45-42; a victory which gave the Lady Vikings a portion of the

league crown. They share that title with Esperanza, whom they

defeated two days earlier, 36-35, to pull into a first-place tie.

By earning a co-championship, Marina broke a six-year run that saw

Esperanza or Edison either win the league outright, or share the

title between them.

“I really think it’s about the team maturing,” Marina coach Butch

Fredlow said of his squad’s title run. “When you play teams like

Edison and Esperanza who are so good, as well as the rest of the

league teams, you learn some things, especially when you’re a really

young team like we were last year.

“This is still a young team but they really embraced the

opportunity this year to play Edison and Esperanza and the rest of

the league.”

Marina outscored Edison, 18-9, in the fourth quarter of their Feb.

10 encounter to wipe out a six-point deficit. Juniors Rachael Maulit

and Erin Barney hit double figures for Marina with 16 and 14 points,

respectively. Barney scored nine of those points on a trio of

three-point baskets.

The Kepilino sisters, Rebecca and Wahine, scored 18 and 13 points,

respectively, for Edison, which finished in third-place and earned a

CIF-SS playoff berth.

Despite dropping its Sunset League finale to visiting Esperanza,

61-39, Huntington Beach still qualified for the CIF-SS playoffs.

Freshman Jasmine Erving scored 13 points and sophomore Karissa

Plotnik scored 10 more for the Oilers.

In Golden West League action, Ocean View wrapped up a CIF-SS

playoff berth with a 53-34 win over visiting Santa Ana. Senior

Vanessa Alderfer scored 13 points and freshman Erica Congelliere

scored 10 to lead the Seahawks.

In boys’ basketball, Edison earned a share of the Sunset League

title on the final night of league play by holding off host Marina,

46-45.

The Chargers withstood a last-second shot attempt by the Vikings

to escape with the win.

“We’ve had two games with Edison go down to the wire this year,

but we couldn’t get that last shot,” Marina coach Roger Holmes said.

“We’ve had so many close games this year, and we ended up losing four

league games by six total points.”

Edison’s victory allowed the Chargers to share the title with Los

Alamitos, which was upset by Fountain Valley, 57-56, in overtime. The

Griffins, who had defeated Edison, 52-51, two days prior, held a

one-game lead on the Chargers heading into the final night of the

regular season.

Huntington’s season came to an end in a 74-62 loss at Esperanza,

which pulled away from a two-point halftime lead. Matt Buckalew’s 15

points paced the Oilers.

Playoff-bound Ocean View ended its regular season with a 67-62

Golden West League win at Santa Ana.

Clint Amberry posted 18 points, John Greiner scored 16, Wynton

Johnson scored 11 and Brad Sweezy had 10 for the third-place

Seahawks, who had their six-year reign as league champion come to an

end.

Previously, Ocean View had routed league foe Westminster, 70-24.

Eleven Seahawks scored, led by Amberry’s 16 points, 13 from Sweezy

and 10 from Greiner.

In girls’ soccer, a match that determined the 2005 Sunset League

champion was won by Los Alamitos, who defeated Edison, 2-1.

Down 1-0, the Chargers battled back to tie the match on an

unassisted goal by junior Alex Dunn. Keeper Amanda Shay turned away

several challenges by the Griffins in the first half, and the two

teams went into the break deadlocked at 1-1.

In the match’s 77th minute, a corner kick situation resulted in

the Griffins’ Hayley Bolt scoring on a header. That turned out to be

the winning goal and gave Los Alamitos its second consecutive league

title.

Edison came back, though, to win its regular season finale, as the

playoff-bound Chargers wrapped up second-place with a 3-1 win over

Marina.

The Chargers, who led at the half, 2-0, got goals from seniors

Jenny Minko and Christina Crawford, and Dunn.

The 2004-05 season came to an end for Huntington, which tied

Esperanza, 1-1.

In boys’ soccer, Huntington finished second in the Sunset League

standings, but was defeated by visiting Fountain Valley, 3-1, in the

regular season finale for both teams.

Chris Sauter scored for the Oilers, who opened CIF-SS playoff

action this week.

Marina dropped its season finale, losing to Esperanza, 3-0.

At the Golden West League wrestling championships, Nguyen Nguyen

of Ocean View won his weight class at 130.

The Seahawks finished in sixth place at the meet.