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Girls’ Basketball: CdM vs. Orange Lutheran preview

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Corona del Mar (23-8) vs. Orange Lutheran (24-8)

When/where: Saturday, 6 p.m. at Orange Lutheran High

Key Sea Kings: Jr. F Natalia Bruening (17.9 points per game); Sr. PG Brianna Westrup (8.7 points per game); Jr. C Krista Anderson (eight points per game); Sr. F Maria King (7.6 points per game).

Key Lancers: Jr. G Taelor Griffin (12.3 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.2 steals per game); Jr. F Gloria Bates (10.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.1 blocks per game); Sr. G Brooke Hutto (6.1 points per game).

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Breakdown: The No. 5-seeded Sea Kings play at the No. 4 Lancers in a CIF State Southern California Regional Division III quarterfinal game ... CdM won its first CIF State game in program history by routing San Diego Kearny, 70-34, in the first round on Wednesday ... Orange Lutheran got past Sun Valley Poly, 55-35, in its first-round game ... The Lancers finished third in the tough Trinity League and won the CIF Southern Section Division 3A title after edging league foe Santa Margarita, 35-31, in the title game March 6 at Godinez High ... The Lancers won the Division 3A title game without their leading scorer Griffin (concussion-like symptoms), and she also didn’t play Wednesday night ... Orange Lutheran comes into Saturday night’s game on an eight-game winning streak ... Lancers sophomore guard Jessi Matson stepped up in Griffin’s absence, scoring a season-high 14 points in the win over Poly ... With three players at 6-foot or taller, Orange Lutheran has more height to combat CdM’s duo of the 6-4 Bruening and the 6-2 Anderson than Kearny did ... CdM faces Orange Lutheran for the first time in Coach Mark Decker’s nine-year tenure ... The winner of Saturday’s game will play either top-seeded Brea Olinda or No. 9 South Hills in the SoCal Regional semifinals on Tuesday.

— Matt Szabo

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