‘Defense wins championships’ is considered a truism in sports. If accurate, the Coronado High School Girls Basketball Team should make their way well into the CIF Division IV playoffs this season.

Last week the Islanders won two games on the road. The first was a 55-15 victory over Madison. The second a 51-19 win against Hoover. In both games the Islanders yielded only five points in the second half to Central League rivals on their home floor. Neither the Cardinals nor the Warhawks are going to be confused with the Showtime Lakers of Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy, but that’s some pretty serious defense displayed by Coronado.

According to Head Coach Toler Goodwin, the defensive sets are pretty basic. "Our primary defense is a man-to-man and we work a couple of different full court presses. One press is man pressure with a run and jump and the other is a basic 2-2-1 zone press when we want to work time off the clock, so the opponent has less time when they get to the offensive end. In the Madison game, we only gave up nine shots in the first half. When you’re shooting nine times in a half, you’re not going to give yourself much of a chance to win. Their only points in the first half came from the free throw line."

Basketball isn’t played by coaches with dueling clipboards and at some point the players need to make plays. Defensively against Madison, Tiffany Depfer had eight steals, Jessica Davis-Ricci added five and Farrell Pompa contributed four steals and had four defensive deflections.

Offensively Brooke Becky led the way with 18 points against the Warhawks, followed by Davis-Ricci with 16, Arrielle Luna with 10 to go along with nine points from Depfer.

It was more of the same at Hoover, as Becky tickled the twine for 20 points and was credited with six steals. Pompa upped her defensive deflections total to eight and Luna chipped in with seven rebounds and eight points against the Cardinals.

"Brooke had a nice shooting game at Hoover," Goodwin explained. "She played under control. She was balanced and took good shots. Brooke was 9-13 from the field and did a nice job of drawing people to her, taking one or two dribbles and hitting the intermediate jump shot. She was really under control and was knocking those down."

Luna, a sophomore center also performed well according to Goodwin. "Arrielle did a nice job passing out of the post to Jessica and Brooke on the perimeter. When she gets the ball in the post, she’s not trying to force the shot if she has two or three people on her. She’s stepping through and kicking the ball to the opposite wing. She’s making good decisions from the interior with her passes."

Goodwin knows basketball is a team game and praised his starting unit. "I thought all five of the starters had a good week mentally and they played well defensively. They continue to play better together. They understand how we want to get the ball to certain players, without trying to force shots or action to the basket. "That’s what we have to have when we play Christian Tuesday, if we are going to make a run in the playoffs."

The Central League title comes down to the Islanders hosting Christian Tuesday. The Patriots won the first meeting between the two long-time hardcourt rivals by the score of 46-42, a contest which found Christian scoring 25 of their 46 points from the free throw line. "We have to play well and make shots early," said Goodwin of the re-match. "It’s important that they don’t sit back defensively and let them use their size. We have to attack the basket off the bounce (dribble) and make them feel the pressure of defending their league title. We can’t do what we did last time, which was to commit too many fouls out from the basket."

The game also has important ramifications for the Division IV playoff seeding meeting that comes Saturday. Goodwin, who has been the Harbor League and now Central League rep for the past 5 years, sees La Jolla Country Day, Bishop’s, Francis Parker and Marian Catholic as contenders for the top four seeds in the division. Goodwin figures that Coronado, with a 16-8 record, should be in the fifth or sixth slot, depending on whether or not they tie for the Central League title with Christian.

The Islanders complete their regular season Friday night with a home Girls-Boys doubleheader against Clairemont. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 pm.

The first hardwood meeting between the CHS Boys Basketball Team and their counterparts from Madison resulted in a 58-54 victory for the Islanders. So Coronado Head Coach Sandy Dillon knew his team could compete with the Warhawks when they hosted Madison last week. The Islanders emerged with a 60-55 victory, but Dillon was impressed with the opposition.

"Tuesday Madison played much better than I thought they were capable of. They made some adjustments against us. Our kids had played at a very high level for two and a half weeks and I was concerned about being totally flat and losing to a team that could beat us. They were ahead by a point (27-26) at halftime. Madison had played extremely well. We didn’t play poorly."

Coronado wound up with three players in double figures, including Ryan Guard with 24, Chas Marks with 15 and Bryan Reed with 10.

Defense again played a major role in the victory. "Geoffrey Worley played outstanding defense," said Dillon. "I put the press on and he had two steals and two tipped balls in four straight Madison possessions. I was really pleased with the kids."

Due to a scheduling anomaly, the second game of the week was Thursday evening as the Islanders traveled to Hoover. Both Worley and junior forward Matt Oakley were under the weather, but both contributed in the game.

"We go to the game and Oakley is shaking," said Dillon. "He played his butt off and was outstanding in the third and fourth quarter. He really grew up a lot Thursday."

According to Dillon, the Cardinals had it teed up and rolling offensively in the first half. "All of their outside shots were going in. They were hitting three-pointers and long twos. They were up 43-20 at halftime. I told the kids, ‘they’re playing you like you’re the second best team in the league’." In fact Hoover continued playing their best players, including junior point guard JayDee Luster, until two minutes remained in the game. Although the Islanders tied Hoover 37-37 in the second half, Hoover prevailed 80-57.

"Chas had a great second half and finished with 24 points," Dillon said. "He put on a shooting display and was 9-15 in the second half. He just was hot. Oakley hit a couple of big time shots, using the proper arc, which was nice to see. Worley only had four turnovers in the game and he figured out what Luster was doing defensively. Whoever Luster leaves (to double team the ball), give the ball to him and let Luster chase him down again. The neat thing Thursday was that the kids gave their all against a team that had it going. I was really pleased. They were tired and sore Friday after the game."

This week the team travels to Christian for a 6:30 pm game. Friday night they host Clairemont on the second half of the Girls-Boys doubleheader. Game time will be approximately 7:45 pm.

The good news for the CHS Girls Water Polo Team is that the Coronado vs. Bishop’s game that matters is the one that may occur in the Division II CIF Finals Sat., Feb. 25 at 7:30 pm at the La Jolla Coggan Pool. The bad news is that the first two matches between the rivals have gone to Bishop’s, including Thursday’s tilt by the score of 9-6.

Two Islander goals in the last minute of play narrowed the margin to that level. The Knights led 3-1 at the end of the first quarter, 5-2 at halftime, and 7-3 at the end of three quarters on their way to the victory.

For Coronado, Katie Estrada and Kelly Phelps scored twice each, and single goals were converted by Molly Patrick, and Carly Hoshko. "We didn’t show up for the game," said Head Coach Dave Throop. "We had individuals who had good moments and defensively we did okay, but it wasn’t our greatest performance. The offensive end really hurt us. We were tentative against the pressure they are running. Against their defensive intensity, we rolled over on it instead of attacking it. We have given them (Bishop’s) reason to be confident. Sandra Fernandez was the only player in the water for Coronado who has beaten Bishop’s during her career."

Two weeks ago, the Islanders finished ninth out of 32 teams in the Irvine Tournament, defeating Canyon, Carlsbad, Dos Pueblos, and Los Alamitos, while losing to Santa Barbara. "In Irvine we hit the wall against Santa Barbara a little bit," Throop explained. We have been doing some very good things, but none of it came together Thursday. I really feel we’re still moving in the right direction."

In other action last week, the Islanders now at 18-9 on the year, defeated University City 17-0 and Scripps Ranch 10-4. Against the Centurions, three Islanders had multiple-goal games, with Danielle Goldblatt and Fernandez scoring four goals each, and Hannah Sebenaler scoring three times. Another goal scorer in the victory included Sabrina Anonas, who has spent most of the past year recovering from surgery.

Against Scripps Ranch, Phelps scored four goals, and single goals were scored by Emily Bigham, Natalia Lopez, Fernandez, Sebenaler, Hoshko and Estrada.

Their regular season now complete, the all-important seeding meeting will be held Monday, where Bishop’s will likely emerge with the No. 1 seed, with Coronado tucked in at No. 2 and La Jolla likely to hold the No. 3 slot. The first round game will be played this Thursday night, with the second round of competition slated for Saturday. The semi-finals will be played Wed., Feb. 22, also at La Jolla’s Coggan Pool.

Soccer is unique in that a 1-0 result can be decisive victory and the CHS Girls Soccer Team proved that last Wednesday at home against La Jolla. Five minutes into the game, Islander standout Sasha Vido scored on a bad-hop goal over the Viking goalie’s head and Coronado earned the shutout victory.

La Jolla was able to put only six shots on the Islander goal, but one resulted in a leaping save late in the first half by Coronado’s senior net minder Megan Mushovic, who tipped the Viking scoring attempt over the crossbar.

"We completely dominated the game, which is good," said Head Coach Kiko Medina. "We didn’t give them any chances, which should give us a little more confidence going into this week. La Jolla had six shots on goal and we had shot attempts in the high teens. We created plenty of chances and we should have finished more of those chances. I was happy with just the fact that we were creating them. We’re playing pretty well, but not great. We are starting to get the bounces and the breaks. One of the reasons we weren’t getting the results in the past two weeks is that we weren’t getting any breaks."

Coronado, which is currently 12-5-4, should be in the thick of the Division III playoff hunt. "I don’t see any reason why we would be bumped out of the Top 4," said Medina, who added that Cathedral Catholic, University City, El Capitan and Our Lady of Peace would be in the grouping along with Coronado, vying to host a home playoff game. "There are 20 teams in Division III and 12 make the playoffs," Medina continued. "One of my biggest concerns going into the (seeding) meeting is to be in a position to host a playoff game."

The Islanders have a crowded playing schedule this week due to some make-up games, hosting OLP for Senior Night Wednesday at 5 pm; traveling to Christian for a 3 pm game Thursday; and playing at Serra Friday at 5 pm.

CMS Girls Softball Head Coach Ken Englehart checks in with a report on the first Central League Middle School softball title earned by the school. "The girls played a flawless game, committing no errors on their way to an upset over undefeated Horizon Middle School by the score of 5-1.

Leading Coronado was team captain and pitcher Brianna Feist. She struck out 12 hitters and held Horizon to one run in six innings of play. During a rally by Horizon in the fifth inning, Kayla Englehart made a beautiful backhand grab at shortstop to get the force out at second base. That play was followed by a great catch by Sally Harris in centerfield.

Offensively, the bats were as hot as the temperatures in El Cajon. Shelby Couture, Brooke Bernardy, and Olivia Nebo all slammed triples in the title game and Lainey Mebust launched one into center for an inside-the-park home run. Coronado finished the season 7-1-1." Congratulations to Coach Englehart and his championship team.

April 1 and 2, Adidas will be sponsoring its annual Junior Phenom Basketball Camp at Alliant International University in Scripps Ranch. This will be the first year for the event in San Diego and the third year nationwide.

The camp, which looks to draw the best basketball talent from both San Diego and Orange Counties, will be held for incoming 2006 sixth, seventh and eighth grade boys and girls. The athletes will participate in a variety of fundamental basketball drills and scrimmages, as well as be instructed in training methods, the importance of diet and nutrition, while balancing school work and the demands of basketball training. The camp fee is $195 and space is limited.

Athletes will be scouted and ranked throughout the camp to determine if they will be invited to the National Junior Phenom Camp, which is also to be held in San Diego Aug. 3-6 for boys and Aug. 10-13 for girls.

For more information on the Adidas Junior Phenom Camp, please contact Jeff Stoner at High Five America at 858-536-3211 or via E-mail at jstoner@highfiveamerica.com.