Golden West: Girls notes, players to watch

Golden West league notes

•Last season's standings: 1t. Orange (8-2, 21-6); 1t. Ocean View (8-2, 12-10); 3t. Saddleback (5-5, 12-14); 3t. Westminster (5-5, 6-15); 5. Santa Ana (3-7, 8-15); 6. Segerstrom (1-9, 11-14). ...

•Orange (second round), Ocean View (first round), Westminster (first round) and Saddleback (first round) qualified for the Division III-A playoffs last season. ...

•The Golden West League is grouped in Division III-A with the Desert Valley, Mission Valley, Del Rio, Mt. Baldy, Desert Sky, De Anza and San Antonio Leagues for the playoffs this season. ...

•The two games between co-champions Orange and Ocean View were extremely close last season. Ocean View won the first meeting, 61-56, and Orange won the rematch, 38-35. ...

•Orange returns its top two players, Jenny Fairman and Melissa Mahi. Fairman is a two-time first-team all-league selection. She also made first team All-CIF Division III-A last season. Mahi also is a two-time first team all-league selection. ...

•Orange is much deeper this season than the past two seasons. Junior varsity MVP Ashley Iberra and frosh-soph MVP Illianna Duarte are on the varsity this season. ...

•Who has the smartest starting five in the county? It might be Orange. The GPAs of the Panthers' starting five are 4.4, 4.3, 4.3, 4.1 and 3.8. ...

•Ocean View coach Jim Harris said his team has good overall size, experience, and smart players who pass well. ...

•Ocean View's Clarissa Holz made first team all-league, Kelsey Harris made second-team all-league and Cristina Kuehn was honorable mention. ...

•Tim Mesenhimer replaces Robert Morgan as Saddleback's coach. ...

•Santa Ana's Yessica Garcia had 25 rebounds in a game last season. ...

•Santa Ana's Jackie Orosco made first-team all-league last season. ...

•Segerstrom's Cristina Cabezas averaged 14 points per game and made first-team all-league last season.

Contact the writer: carias@ocregister.com