Netburners take tourney

The Huntington Beach Netburners won the National Junior Basketball 8th-Grade All-Net Division championship last weekend at Golden West College.

Playing against teams that were older and bigger, according to Coach Rick Minato, Huntington still managed to win the title. The Netburners defeated the Carmel Valley Knights, 43-32, in the final. Kelsey Minato led Huntington with 19 points and hit all four of her three-point shot attempts. Christina Marquette scored 14 points and Sharity Ondrejik led the team in rebounding with nine.

Huntington, which played against teams from San Diego, the Bay Area and Southern California in the five-game tournament, reached the title game by defeating a San Jose West, 60-44.

“We had to compensate for our smaller size with a strong offense combined with tough defense,” Rick Minato said. “This is an accomplishment the girls will treasure for a long time.”

The Netburners are Hannah Ferguson, Michelle Goodman, Lauren Grego, Ashley Juarez, Lauren Ogata, Sharity Ondrejik, Lauren Slack, Maya Kennedy, Christina Marquette and Kelsey Minato. Assistant coaches are Peter Ma and Patrick Kennedy.