Despite loss, improvement shows

Laguna Beach hung tough with host St. Margaret’s throughout most of Tuesday night’s nonleague girls’ basketball contest, but the Breakers couldn’t get over the hump and eventually lost to the Tartans, 58-45.

Laguna trailed by two points at the half and was down four entering the fourth quarter.

“We actually tied (the score) with five minutes to play but didn’t have enough in the end,” Laguna Coach Jon Hendrickson said. “Tess Grogan was huge for us. She scored 25 points and played superb defense on their best player the whole game.

The Breakers made a season-high nine three-point baskets in the game but negated them by making “too many careless mistakes” throughout the game, Hendrickson said.

Grogan, who leads the Breakers with a 14.2 points-per-game average, had six of those three-point baskets.

Emily LaRose was the next top scorer with eight points.

Previously, Laguna topped Beckman, 49-45, in the fourth-round of the Segerstrom Tournament. The Breakers, who avenged a three-point loss to Beckman in the season opener, raced to a 15-2 lead after one quarter and took a 25-11 advantage into the half. LaRose and Lauren Kelly each scored 13 points with LaRose connecting on a pair of three-point baskets. Grogan also hit a pair of three-point shots and scored in double-figures with 10 points.

Grogan’s final three-pointer of the night came with under a minute left and squelched one final comeback attempt by the Patriots.

Emily Writer scored seven points, Samantha Garner five and Shawna Reinert scored a point.

After going 0-20 last season, the Breakers are much improved and enter Winter Break with a 2-5 mark.

Laguna begins play Wednesday at the Garden Grove Tournament. The Breakers’ first-round game is against host Garden Grove. Tipoff is 6 p.m.

The tournament runs daily through Dec. 29.