Basketball Steadily Gains Momentum

Boys
By Tyler Hartung

When asked if the boy’s basketball team would be able to repeat last year’s recordbreaking season, senior Brendan Hill said, “We can win league again. We have a good enough team to repeat.” Returning seniors Hill, Ray Getz, and Nick Kaspar have led the team in the earlygoing, although the results haven’t lived up to last year’s hot start. The Dolphin’s most recent game took place on Dec. 16 against Katella in the Beckman Tournament. The team cruised to a 63-47 win, led by Getz’s 17 points. Before this game, the Dolphins demolished Long Beach in a home game winning by a landslide, 67-36. The Dolphins had their first home game of the year on Dec. 9 against No. 4 ranked Canyon. Both teams looked evenly matched early, but Canyon ended the half on a 10-0 run, leaving the Dolphins behind by eight. However, the boys came out of the locker room with energy, and the game ended up going down to the final two minutes of regulation, with Canyon leading by one with only 35 seconds left. “I told [the coaches] I wanted the ball and I told the shooters to be ready,” Hill said about the timeout. Hill received the inbound pass and ran the majority of the time off of the clock, and then kicked it out to Getz just above the three-point line. Getz buried the three and put the Dolphins up by two points with 5.1 seconds to go. Canyon was unable to come back, and Dana was victorious, 52-51. “Brendan made a play,” Getz added. “He spread the floor well, and I knew [the shot] was going in.” Although they were not playing for the championship in their final game of the Diablo Tournament, the Dolphins ended the tournament on a strong note, beating San Juan Hills, 58-48. “We played some great teams,” Getz commented. “Although we didn’t win, this made us a better team.” In the previous game, the boys were unable to prevail, and lost their second game in a row to Woodbridge 47-38, ending their hopes of repeating as Diablo Inferno Tournament Champions. In the second game of the tournament, the team unfortunately lost a heart breaker to Colony. Despite the Dolphins leading for almost the entire game, they were unable to hold on and lost the lead in the final two minutes. “We got lazy on defense and didn’t execute, so we lost it in the end,” Getz remarked. Hill said, “Our record made that tournament look a lot worse. We were winning every single game at half time.” The team had a strong start, and went into the locker room at half time with an 11 point lead. After half time, the Dolphins watched as their lead grew smaller and smaller under Colony’s suffocating half-court press defense, and couldn’t seem to find a way to break it during the entire second half. The game ended in the team’s first loss with a 65-62 score, as Getz’s buzzer-beating three-point attempt fell just short of the rim. Despite the loss, Hill showed exactly why he was an all-league point guard last season, as he finished with 19 points, 11 assists, and five steals. The season began for the Dolphins at the Diablo Inferno Tournament at Mission Viejo, where they met their first opponent, Culver City. The game was close to begin with, but the Dolphins ran away with it towards the end. Senior Ryan Lubock took advantage of his intimidating 6’9” frame to impose his will on the smaller Culver City defenders, and finished with 19 points and 9 rebounds, sharing the scoring lead with Getz. The game ended with Dana utterly dominating their opponents, 68-42. The team also played another game in the Beckman tournament against Yorba Linda. Results were not available at press time.

Girls
By Stephanie Cheng

The Lady Dolphins have performed admirably in the first several games of the season, having won many of their games. They played against the St. Paul Swordsmen last night, Dec. 17. At press time, results were unavailable. On Dec. 16, the girls competed against the Pacific Mariners and won 53-17. The Dolphins, due to the defense’s clear improvement, were able to hold the Mariners from a relatively high point-advantage. They then played the Ocean View Seahawks and won 74-30 on Dec. 15. The girls gained an advantage and remained focused—retaining the lead all the way through the game and pulling through with a spectacular win. The Dolphins lost against the Chaparral Pumas 53-65 on Dec. 11. Despite playing hard, the girls were unable to defeat Chaparral and lost by a 12- point margin. Winning 58-54, the girls played against the Westlake Warriors on Dec. 9. They started strong with a substantial lead but did not manage to retain this advantage in the second half. Nevertheless, the girls still managed to win the game. The girls encountered a setback in their game against Mater Dei on Dec. 8 and were defeated, losing by 45 points (30-75). Despite this loss, the girls managed to remain positive. Though they are the number one team in the nation, the girls still considered it a great experience to play with the best. The Dec. 7 game against Colony also resulted in a loss. The girls did not begin the game as strongly as they could have and were unable to make up for their initial weakness, losing 39-56. The girls lost their second game of the season; they were defeated by Laguna Hills 47- 59. Though the girls were able to somewhat overcome their weak start, it was not quite enough. They were unable to achieve a victory. Winning against Katella 54-48, the girls started the season strong under the direction of their new coach, Taryn Commins. Commins commented, “We’re working hard, and we’re going strong. Junior Katherine Chastain noted, “Our season is off to a great start with everyone working well together. We are determined to win South Coast League this year, and I think if we keep progressing as we have, we will have a great success.” Senior Lauren Shute added, “It’s definitely a new adjustment for everyone, since there’s a new coach, but we’re all working really hard…We’re happy with what we’re doing, but we’re also looking forward to doing better.” The girls look forward to a successful season.