Breakers can’t get on track

Mike Sciacca

The silver lining to Laguna Beach High’s 67-64 loss at University

Tuesday night is that the Breakers still are heading to the

CIF-Southern Section playoffs for the first time in a very long time.

The defeat, coupled by Tesoro’s loss Tuesday on the final night of

Pacific Coast League play, left Laguna with sole possession of

third-place in the league standings.

“Unreal,” said Laguna coach Stacy Howard, in reference her team’s

league finish. “I am so proud of the year that the kids have put

together. We were sitting in dead last in league 2 1/2 weeks ago, and

look at us now.”

The trip to next week’s CIF playoffs will be Laguna’s first

postseason appearance in 16 years.

The Breakers played Tuesday’s game without Aja Roley and Sam

Grant, both out due to strep throat.

Three other players also were battling the onset of the illness,

Howard said.

Laguna never got on track against University. The Breakers gave up

several baskets in transition and the Trojans hit key, three-point

shots down the stretch.

“We were not at full strength, but found a way to bounce back from

16 down at one point to make it a tight game at the end,” Howard

said. “We just didn’t have enough left in the tanks tonight and Uni

played tough all night.”

Claire Bevacqua led Laguna in scoring with 26 points.

Teammate Brittany Clark contributed 13 points.

On Senior Night at Dugger Gymnasium, Laguna defeated Tesoro,

51-43.

Laguna trailed, 12-5, after one quarter but rallied to pull within

one point of the Titans by halftime.

The teams played evenly in the third quarter but the Breakers

dominated the final eight minutes of the game, where they outscored

the Titans, 27-15.

The 27 points scored in the fourth quarter were more than Laguna

had scored in the first three quarters combined.

Defense keyed Laguna’s strong fourth quarter.

Clark came up with two big steals early in the quarter and

Bevacqua scored 15 of her team-high 18 points in the quarter.

Bevacqua also collected 11 rebounds.

Clark scored 11 points to go along with five steals.

Roley scored 14 points on 8 of 12 shooting and grabbed seven

rebounds.

“Aja put together one of her most solid games of the year,” Howard

said of Roley. “This was an outstanding team win. Great floor

leadership from our seniors gave us the biggest win in the program’s

recent history, as it gave us 11 on the year and qualified us for an

at-large bid to CIF.”

Senior Night at Dugger Gymnasium honored Roley, Deana Awadalla,

Katie Sexton and Summer Kendrick.

In boys’ basketball, Laguna fell to visiting Tesoro in a

low-scoring game, 32-28.

It was the final home game for seniors Austin Sands, Taylor

Willhoit, Jake Wheeler, Bobby Marquette, Matt Mussig and Sean

Bedrick.

Ivan Kovacevic scored 12 points to lead Laguna and Cheyne Martin

scored eight points.

In a prior game, Laguna routed visiting Calvary Chapel, 64-42.

The Breakers rolled to an 18-4 first quarter advantage and took a

33-12 lead at the half.

Martin hit a trio of three-point baskets en route to a game-high

21 points.

Kovacevic added 14 points.

Laguna, which closed out its regular season Wednesday at

University, already has qualified for an at-large bid to next week’s

CIF playoffs with 12 victories.

A team needs to reach the 11-win plateau in order to be considered

for an at-large bid.