CdM making a push

Patrick Laverty

Corona del Mar High’s girls basketball team has been given the green

light by second-year coach Jim Barkalow.

Forced to slow things down last season because of limited time to

put in his preferred system, Barkalow plans on letting the Sea Kings

fly this season.

“This year, we have a lot of speed but not too much size, so we’re

really going to try to push the tempo,” Barkalow said.

That’s his preference as a coach and Corona del Mar, coming off a

second-place tie in the Pacific Coast League last season, can be

expected to use a lot of full-court man-to-man pressure and let the

jump shots fly on offense.

“I plan on improving [on last season’s 12-13] finish,” Barkalow

said. “It’s going to be an interesting year. We have five seniors and

five sophomores, so our experience is mixed. Of the five seniors,

three really played last season and two played more sparingly.”

The three who played extensively provide the Sea Kings with the

majority of their experience. Lauren Snell, a 5-foot-8 senior

forward, is CdM’s leading returning scorer, having averaged 5.2

points last season. Kate Heeschen, a 5-5 senior, is a returning

starter at point guard who averaged 3.1 points in 2002-03. Collen

Marks, a 5-2 guard, averaged 3 points per game last season.

Those seniors, along with projected starter Sarah Stern, a 5-3

guard and a strong shooter, as well as the club’s fifth senior,

Collen Skalla, a 5-7 forward, will learn just how well they mix with

the five sophomores and one junior on the roster during the opening

week of the season.

The Sea Kings are scheduled to play four games in five days that

first week, beginning Monday at home against Costa Mesa.

“We’re going to learn a lot about the kids,” Barkalow said. “We’re

going to learn about their mental toughness, how they bounce back

from a loss and if they can come back down after a win.”

Making things more difficult for the Sea Kings in the early going

will be the immersion of Snell into the team. A member of the Sea

Kings’ CIF Southern Section Division III-A runner-up volleyball team,

Snell didn’t join the basketball team until after CdM was eliminated

from the state volleyball playoffs Tuesday.

Barkalow is hopeful to get her some minutes in the first few games

of the season, but she likely won’t be in the starting lineup.

Others expected to be in the starting lineup include sophomores

Megan Benbow, a “lightning quick” 5-6 guard, and Allison Long, a 5-7

forward.

But starting or not, all 11 of the Sea Kings are expected to play

as Barkalow uses depth to his advantage in an attempt to push the

basketball up the court for four quarters.

“They like the fact that we’re going to press and run-and-jump

because it gives them an opportunity for layups and they like that,”

Barkalow said.

When the layups aren’t there, Barkalow isn’t going to prevent any

of his players from taking a good, open jump shot.

“All my kids can hit a shot, even my center and my forwards can

shoot from 15 feet,” Barkalow said. “My philosophy is, if they’re

open, shoot it.”

After the opening week of the season, the Sea Kings will play in a

pair of tournaments, one in Catalina and the other at Santiago High,

where the Sea Kings were the runners-up in the Cavalier Classic last

season.

Barkalow is hopeful those games will prepare the Sea Kings for

Pacific Coast League play, where he believes Northwood and University

will enter the season as the favorites.