Youth Scene: Laguna girls bounce back with win

The Laguna Beach Girls Division 1 girls played a doubleheader Saturday and split two games in National Junior Basketball action.

The Breakers started out cold against Capo Dana but had a furious rally fall short in an eventual, 26-21 setback which was their first loss of the season. Madison Sinclair scored 10 points to lead the Breakers.

Laguna bounced back Saturday afternoon to defeat the Niguel Aliso Trojans, 41-31, at Aliso Viejo. Sinclair again led the team in scoring with 14 points while Nicole Davidson and Sophia Lucas scored nine and eight points, respectively.

The Breakers will play for first place in their division Saturday, when they play host to undefeated Capo Dana Dark Shadows at 2:50 p.m. at Thurston Middle School in Laguna Beach.

In other NJB action:

Girls’ Division 2

Laguna Beach put two more games in the win column by sweeping a doubleheader Saturday.

In its first game, Laguna defeated the Capo Dana Thunder, 33-27. Piper Naess led the way with 16 points. Maddy Grabowski hit a key basket in the win and Molly Cohn played a strong game at point guard.

The Breakers won a hard-fought, 24-21 game against Niguel Aliso in their second outing. Strong efforts by Evie Laptin, Emmalisa Randrup, Quinn Winter and Izzy Meekma keyed the victory.

The two wins moved Laguna to 8-1 on the season.

Boys Division 3

Laguna Beach took two victories last weekend despite missing two players who were out ill.

Using a six-player rotation, Laguna scored victories over the Laguna Hills Thunder and Laguna Hills Lakers.

The Breakers scored a 52-12 win against the Laguna Hills Thunder. Griffin Kristensen and Jack Payne led the scoring with 13 and 12 points, respectively.

The Breakers used another strong offensive output to post a 49-39 win over the Laguna Hills Lakers. Payne scored 15 points, Henry Miller had 12 points and Will Compton and Keegan Even hit key jump shots.

— Reader submission