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CdM again wins Battle of Bay

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Rooting interests can get complicated in Battle of the Bay games.

Corona del Mar High two-sport star Natalia Bruening enjoyed having her Orange County Volleyball Club teammates, Remy Wilson, Ellie Hagadorn and Sammie Yeager, there for support in the girls’ basketball Battle of the Bay on Tuesday night at CdM. Of course, Wilson, Hagadorn and Yeager all go to Newport Harbor.

“It was pretty fun to see them here and cheering me on,” said Bruening, who also had her CdM volleyball teammates Payton Carter and Paige Migliori there for support. “I thought it was a fun atmosphere.”

Bruening came over to visit her Newport Harbor friends after the game.

During it, Bruening and the Sea Kings might not have appeared quite as friendly.

They started fast and cruised to a 63-17 victory, their fourth straight in the rivalry series. Bruening, the 6-foot-4 junior, played a big role, with 21 points, 14 rebounds and two blocked shots before sitting out the fourth quarter.

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“No matter what, it’s always a fun game to play,” CdM Coach Mark Decker said of the rivalry. “Obviously, we’re a lot better than we’ve been and we’re getting better. For us, we just need to work on stuff and try to get better. That was our main focus for this game, for us to practice the things that we’re going to be doing when league hits.”

Pacific Coast League play hits soon for the Sea Kings (10-5), as they open Friday night at Irvine. The goal is a league title for CdM, which finished last in 2011-12 and ‘12-13 before rising to third place last year.

To that end, the Sea Kings implemented a more aggressive defense early against Newport Harbor (7-7). Bruening said it was a 1-3-1 zone defense that CdM simply calls “X.”

It marked the spot for CdM early. Maria King and Brianna Westrup each had two layups in the first few minutes, all of them coming off steals. The Sea Kings forced eight Newport Harbor turnovers overall in the first quarter, which ended with CdM up big, 24-4. The Sea Kings extended the lead to 45-10 by halftime.

“We were trying to work on another defense that we don’t always come out in,” said King, a senior forward who finished with seven points and five rebounds. “It’s more aggressive and up in their face, and I thought that gave us the opportunity for a lot of turnovers and layups, which helps. This was obviously a good game for us to work on it a little bit more.”

Westrup had 11 points and five assists for the winners, while junior center Krista Anderson scored eight and senior guard Kelly Tam had seven points and a team-best three steals. Junior forward Kat Hess gave the Sea Kings good minutes off the bench, with five points, four rebounds and a pair of steals.

Junior McKenna Izzi led Newport Harbor with seven points and four steals, while senior center Kendra Munguia had four points and six rebounds. But the Sailors, who shot just five for 46 for the game (11%), were obviously struggling. They made just one of 16 three-point attempts and scored a season-low point total.

“From the beginning, when they came out and got like four layups in a row, that hit us pretty hard,” said Newport senior guard Kierstyn Yardley, one of three team captains along with Izzi and senior guard Hannah Doolin. “It was all the energy that they had. I wasn’t expecting them to come out that hard ... I think a lot of us started freaking out. Everyone was just so startled. But by the second half, we all tried to calm down and play our game.”

Coach Shelly VanDusen’s Sailors will try to rebound for Sunset League play, which begins Thursday at Los Alamitos. The goal is to be more competitive, breaking a league losing streak that currently stands at 31 games.

CdM knows that it can be competitive in its league, too, but it also won’t be easy.

“If we play like we’re capable of playing, I think we have a great chance against anybody,” Decker said. “Woodbridge is really good, Uni won league last year and Northwood is tough. There’s no gimmes, but I feel like we have some advantages. If we take care of what we’re supposed to do, we should be happy with the results.

“Last year was about building confidence. I don’t know that we really believed that we were a good team until about halfway through league. We know what we can be now, it’s just a matter of going out and proving it and doing it.”

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Battle of the Bay

Corona del Mar 63, Newport Harbor 17

SCORE BY QUARTERS

NH 4 – 6 – 3 – 4 — 17

CdM 24 – 21 – 11 – 7 — 63

NH – Izzi 7, Munguia 4, Jimenez 2, Hamilton 2, Hernandez 1, Yardley 1.

3-pt. goals – Izzi 1.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.

CdM – Bruening 21, Westrup 11, Anderson 8, Tam 7, King 7, Hess 5, Pridemore 4.

3-pt. goals – Tam 1.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.

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