Orlando trip is finally here

We are heading to Orlando this Saturday. Here are a few important pieces of information.

• Meet at Woodbridge this Saturday 12/26 at 3:45pm, depart by 4:00pm
• We are flying out of LAX on Frontier Airlines
• Outbound flight #1180 at 8:50PM Dec.26th
• First game will be Monday 12/28 at 9:00am vs West Islip HS (NY)
• All games will be held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex
• 700 South Victory Way, Orlando, FL 34747
• The bracket is now posted in the tournament section of the web site.
• Return flight #1181 arrives at LAX at 7:35PM 1/1/16

Two returning starters lead inexperienced Woodbridge

By TIM BURT / Staff Writer

Woodbridge High’s girls basketball team returns two starters from last year’s team that was 20-8 overall, but the lack of overall experience is a concern for Coach Eric Bangs.

Woodbridge was 8-2, sharing the Pacific Coast League title with Corona del Mar.

The Warriors are led by two players who were second team all-league last year, senior Sierra Vaglica and sophomore Anjali Ghadi. Junior Lauren Lum, who was honorable mention last year, is also expected to make big contributions.

The Warriors started out the season with 10 players. But junior Alyssa Cadavona, who was expected to start, was helped off the court following an injury in Saturday’s third place game of the South Coast Classic and her status for the future was not know.

“Alyssa Cadavona had never played at all and she started to figure it out,” Bangs said after the game. “Hopefully, she’s not hurt too bad.”

The other starter is junior Lauren Baffo.

While the Warriors have experience, they don’t have a lot of depth.

“This year’s varsity team is not as deep as the last few years with only 10 members on the team,” Bangs said. “We actually have 11 players, but two-year letter-winner Alissa Niewiadomski (second team all-league) suffered an ACL injury in July and will not be able to play her senior year.

“The team has a couple of returners with experience, but there are also several girls playing their first year on varsity. If the team can stay healthy this year, it looks like all of the girls will be playing significant minutes, led by returners Sierra Vaglica, Lauren Lum and Anjali Ghadi.”

A number of other players are expected to contribute, including sophomore Tessa Shimizu, junior Abby Montplaisir, sophomore Sanarya Salem and junior Heather Fujii.

Bangs hopes the ingredients are there for another winning season, but acknowledges there are question marks.

“We’re really young and green,” he said. “We just try and get better every day. We are the least experienced team in the league.

“Lum and Vaglica have experience. Ghadi is a second year player. Baffo and Cadavona are first year starters with no experience.”

Bangs believes there will be plenty of challenges in the Pacific Coast League.

“CdM, Beckman, Northwood and Uni are all pretty good,” Bangs said. “I don’t know anything about Irvine.”

Woodbridge hosts Sonora at 7 p.m. Friday before competing in the Segerstrom Tournament next week

LINK TO ARTICLE

Team gear now available for purchase

Purchase your warrior gear by clicking here:

https://team.sportchalet.com/WHS_WBB

Website closes November 29th!

Shoe Drive Fundraiser Ends this Week

All shoes that are collected for the shoe drive are scheduled to be picked up this Wednesday (10/14/15) morning at 9:00am in the parking lot behind the pool. If you have any problems dropping off your shoes on Wednesday morning, be sure to talk with Coach Bangs or Coach Clarkson to plan on how to collect your shoes.

Angel Bins will also take any used clothes as well. Just make sure they are in separate bags from the shoes.

Help send us to Orlando, FL

We are currently raising money to fund our trip to Orlando Florida this December. We are asking for your support. You can go to the website below and make a donation. All donations are tax deductible. Please share this link to all Warrior Alumni.

https://app.snap-raise.com/fundraisers/3646

Summer Basketball

The 2015 summer basketball season is right around the corner. As summer league schedules and tournament schedules are received, they will be posted on the "Summer Schedules" page. The JV Mission Viejo bracket has been received and posted already. We are still waiting for the others to arrive.

Summer camp for all incoming 9th graders will start on Monday June 22nd.

All players that are planning on participating in summer basketball MUST sign up and pay the fee for summer camp by going to this link. This needs to be completed before playing in any summer league games or participating in summer camp.

Any questions, see Coach Bangs or Coach Clarkson.

CIF First Round this Saturday 12/21

CIF playoffs start this week, we will open up with Silverado High School from Victorville. Today we confirmed the game time. Game will be played at 5:00pm at Woodbridge HS this Saturday 2/21. Hope to see everyone come out!

Woodbridge back on top in PCL

February 12, 2015 10:07 PM

By TIM BURT

Staff Writer - Orange County Register

Woodbridge’s girls basketball team earned a share of the Pacific Coast League crown, defeating Beckman, 60-33, Thursday night at Woodbridge.

Woodbridge, Beckman and Corona del Mar came into the game tied for first place.

The Warriors share the league title with Corona del Mar, which defeated Northwood, 52-49, on Thursday at Corona del Mar.

A coin flip will determine which team will be the No. 1 squad in terms of the CIF playoffs, according to Woodbridge coach Eric Bangs.

Woodbridge was determined to bring home the title. The Warriors had a streak of four consecutive league titles snapped last year.

Beckman (15-10, 7-3) was trying to win its first league title. But Woodbridge settled the issue early, jumping out to a 16-5 lead after one quarter.

Woodbridge led, 38-12, at halftime and was in command the rest of the way.

“It’s not like we didn’t think we could win it (the title) but having Bonnie (Sarchet) out early and Jasmine (Rachal) for 15 games (after returning from an injury), it was a battle,” Bangs said.

“Defensively, wow, 33 points, that’s pretty good. Give that to (assistant) coach Pete Belanto and his game plan. We actually did an even better job than the first time we played them.”

Woodbridge (19-7, 8-2) was led by Annika Walker, who had 19 points. Anjali Ghadiyaram and Rachal added 11 points each for the Warriors.

Beckman was led by Kiara Quinn with 10 points.

“This is a really nice win for the kids because we go as either the first or second rep,” Bangs said. “The accomplishment of bringing a title back after all the injuries ... it’s pretty rewarding.”

Woodbridge defeated Beckman, 67-45, on Jan. 23 and was determined to win again.

“I’m so glad we won the league championship,” Walker said. “It’s great to do it my senior year and go out with a bang. We all played really well. We come ready to play Beckman every time. It’s a game we know we have to come to play to win. We did so both times thankfully.”

Contact the writer: tburt@ocregister.com

Key road win for Woodbridge

BY TIM BURT / Staff Writer
OC Register

Woodbridge’s girls basketball team has plenty of work to do before it can bring back the Pacific Coast League title to the school.

But the Warriors took a significant step toward that goal Tuesday night with a 40-37 PCL victory over Corona del Mar, a team that Woodbridge coach Eric Bangs called the clear favorite going into league play.

No. 10 Woodbridge (11-5, 2-0) held off a late comeback by the Sea Kings, who turned the ball over on their final possession and were unable to get a shot off in the game at CdM.

“To me, this is the most talented team in the league,” Woodbridge coach Eric Bangs said of CdM. “They (his team) did a good job to get the win. They were actually outrunning us, so if they’re a lot taller and they’re outrunning us, then we were in trouble.

“But I think what we did is we tried to play all 10 or 11 kids in the first half and then settle on seven or so in the second half. The kids that came in in the first half all did a nice job.”

Anjali Ghadiyaram led Woodbridge with 16 points. Annika Walker added 11 points for the Warriors.

Woodbridge, without a player taller than 5-foot-11, faced a significant height disadvantage trying to guard Corona del Mar’s 6-foot-4 Natalia Bruening, who had 12 points, and 6-foot-2 Krista Anderson, who was limited to 2 points.

“If you’re standing there under the basket, we have no chance,” Bangs said. “When the ball is outside, we got a chance because we can front and do some things. If we can get them to miss and get a defensive rebound, one shot and out, that would really be good.

“Let’s just say we used our guards to help out and until they (CdM) hit a couple shots outside at the end of the game, we will live with that, and not let (Krista) Anderson and (Natalia) Bruening hurt us inside. It’s a total team effort.”

Woodbridge led, 17-16, at halftime and had a 29-26 lead going into the final quarter.

The Warriors extended their lead to 8 points twice in the final quarter before CdM began forcing turnovers.

The Sea Kings cut the lead to 38-37 when Maria King made one of two free throws with 34 seconds.

Corona del Mar (11-6, 1-1) got the ball back after the missed free throw but was unable to convert. Ghadiyaram was fouled going for the rebound and sank two free throws with 9.3 seconds to clinch the victory.

“I have to hand it to Corona del Mar,” Bangs said. “They started trapping and getting tips. We didn’t take care of the ball very well, not by design. We were just hoping to cruise in for a 12-point win. Hopefully, we build a little character on that one.”

Contact the writer: tburt@ocregister.com

Woodbridge regains upper hand in PCL

BY JEREMY BALAN

STAFF WRITER

OC Register

IRVINE – Last season, University loosened Woodbridge’s stranglehold on the Pacific Coast League by snapping the Warriors’ four-year run of league titles.

After Friday’s league opener between the two teams, it appears Woodbridge has regained its grip.

The Warriors re-established themselves as the league favorite with a commanding win, 46-29, at Woodbridge High.

Woodbridge (10-5, 1-0) dominated throughout on the defensive end, limiting University’s leading scorer, Allison Piper, to a single point and held the Trojans (10-7, 0-1) to 11 second-half points as the Warriors pulled away steadily. Piper went into the game averaging 12.3 points per game.

University went 0-for-11 from the field in the fourth quarter and 1-for-22 in the second half.

“We’re going to struggle to find points,” Woodbridge coach Eric Bangs said. “We’re down kids and we didn’t have the depth I thought we’d have, but the defense is always there.”

Without their returning leading scorer from last season, Bonnie Sarchet, who is out with an ACL injury, as well as standout sophomore Jasmine Rachal, the Warriors have had to rely on balance for much of the season and Friday was another example.

Four Woodbridge players scored nine points or more, led by junior guard Alissa Niewiadomski, who had a team-high 13 points on 3-of-5 shooting from 3-point range. Fellow guard Anjali Ghadiyaram added 11 points, forward Annika Walker had 10 and Lauren Baffo came off the bench to score nine.

“Everybody is capable and that’s how you have to do it,” Bangs said. “I always say, if you can put four or five people out there who can score and contribute, you’re a pretty good girls basketball team.”

Woodbridge also controlled the offensive boards with 17 offensive rebounds, allowing the Warriors to take twice as many shots (32 to 16) as University in the first half. Woodbridge took a 28-18 lead into the break.

“Today I was upset, because I felt they outhustled us and that’s something that I never thought I’d (see) from my team,” University coach Nicole Bradshaw said. “We got killed on the offensive boards.”

As poor as the Trojans played offensively – their point total was a season low – senior forward and captain Kiara Warren did her best to keep University in the game.

Warren finished with 17 points and nine rebounds – both game highs – and scored nine of the Trojans’ 11 points in the second half.

“No matter what, even if she doesn’t have a good scoring game, she’s always 100 percent working hard,” Bradshaw said. “There is never a time in a game where I have to say, ‘Kiara, you’re out of position’ or ‘Kiara, what are you doing?’”

Original Article