Brittney Bowlus

Steve Virgen

She kept playing.

Brittney Bowlus’ eye was swollen shut after she took an elbow, and

she could only see out of her left eye. She held back tears from the

throbbing pain.

But she kept playing.

Bowlus concentrated on Corona del Mar High’s ultimate goal: a CIF

Division II girls water polo championship. This was her final prep

game, so there would be one constant action for Bowlus.

So she kept playing.

“I didn’t want to come out in my last game, no matter how much

pain there was,” said Bowlus, who was left with a fractured orbital

bone. “It wasn’t that bad during the game because I was focused on

the game. Coach (Aaron) Chaney was asking me if everything was OK. I

kept saying, I was fine.”

Bowlus’ teammates told her the right eye didn’t look so bad just

so she could continue playing. The Sea Kings needed her. Not only did

she draw double teams providing CdM with other open options on

offense, but Bowlus, the CdM senior, also delivered an awesome

defensive performance, considering the circumstances.

“It was the most heroic thing I’ve ever witnessed as a coach,”

Chaney would later say. “She’ll do whatever it takes to make herself

and the team better.”

Bowlus shut down one of Villa Park’s top scorers, Melissa Soria,

as the Sea Kings defeated the Spartans, 10-5, to capture their second

straight CIF championship March 1. Soria entered the CIF title game

having scored 14 goals in the three previous playoff games. Yet, she

scored just once against Bowlus and CdM.

Bowlus, who injured her eye in the second period, also scored one

goal for the Sea Kings.

“When we first started the game, I wanted to go into set and get

going,” Bowlus said. “After I got hit, all I could think of was, I

can’t see. I think my adrenaline took over during the game. I was

really mad. There was no way they were going to win. I wouldn’t give

them the satisfaction of winning.”

Bowlus, who will play for UCLA after she graduates from Corona

this spring, was the one who was dishing out the pain earlier in the

week when she scored a game-high five goals to lead the Sea Kings to

an 11-4 win over Canyon (Anaheim).

CdM was without senior Daniela DiGiacomo, who injured her leg the

night before at a team dinner, and senior Christina Hewko picked up

two player ejections early in the first quarter. But Bowlus scored

CdM’s first three goals and she scored a goal in each quarter, as she

used her power and size to find the cage.

Bowlus said her scoring ability has come about because of the

extra time she has put into practicing. She just started playing

water polo the summer before she became a freshman.

She used to watch her elder brother, Garrett, who is now a

sophomore at UCLA, play for the Sea Kings. She had always enjoyed

swimming, but water polo became attractive

“I’ve been swimming since I was four,” Bowlus said. “I remember

watching (Garrett) play. I was a little scared because it looked

hard. But overall I thought it was fun. (Age-group coach) Ted

Bandaruk asked me if I wanted to play, and so I did. I liked it so

much I didn’t want to swim anymore.”

Bowlus’ love for water polo has increased through her years at

CdM. The Sea Kings’ success has also helped Bowlus remain passionate

about the sport. In Bowlus’ three years with the varsity team, CdM

has won consecutive Pacific Coast League titles and the past two

seasons the Sea Kings have won CIF championships.

Yet for all the talent CdM has possessed, Bowlus said when the Sea

Kings really needed to win, they relied on their chemistry. There are

close friendships among the players on the CdM squad. Intimate enough

that they told Bowlus she looked fine in that title game, and that

proved to be the ultimate encouragement. Then, the next day, when

Bowlus rested and lay still, as to somehow minimize the pain, her

teammates came to her home to deliver flowers, smiles and hugs.

“Our team is really close,” Bowlus said. “We do everything

together. It carries into the pool and the game. We know what the

next move will be and that is important. That will make us flow

better. We were fortunate to have a close team and that helped us.”