Strong showing by Yorba Linda in win over Kennedy

Yorba Linda had a breakout season last season, winning the Empire League title, winning 21 games and reaching the CIF-SS Division 4AA quarterfinals in its first season as a varsity team.

The Mustangs' first senior class has been looking pretty good this season, too.

Yorba Linda used an excellent defensive effort and solid transition offense to beat Kennedy, 47-24, to take over sole possession of first place in the Empire League on Thursday night at Kennedy High.

"That was one of our better games of the year, I felt, from an offensive and defensive standpoint," Mustangs coach Marc Hill said. "We're still a little inconsistent on our outside shooting. That has me worried. But our athleticism, our rebounding and our team defense has really improved. This is our first senior class. It's sreally been a joy for me to coach."

Sophomore guard Taylor Schlener led the way with 13 points and senior guard Alexus Atchley dished out a number of assists to her teammates on fastbreak opportunities.

"We're definitely starting to work together as a team," Schlener said. "Everything is fitting into place. Honestly, this is the best group of girls that I've ever played with. I'm just happy to get to play with all these girls."

Atchley was in charge of guarding Kennedy's leading scorer, Aikane Higa, and she limited her to four points.

"We played very good defense," Hill said. "Twenty-four points against Kennedy ... and Kennedy is a pretty good offensive team. Higa is excellent, so we put our best player, Lexi, on her and then we helped with everybody, and they did a great job. They helped each other and played team defense. I was very happy with them."

Yorba Linda, ranked No. 2 in Division 3AA, improved to 15-5 overall and 6-0 in league, while the Fighting Irish, ranked No. 6 in Division 3AA, dropped to 14-5 and 4-1.

"We can't let our guard down (in the second round of league play)," Schlener said, "because there are a couple of close games that if we don't play our best we could get that L that we don't want."

In another Empire League game:

Cypress 46, Pacifica 39: Tia Karapoulious' 13 points helped the Centurions (13-7, 4-2), ranked No. 13 in Division 2AA, knock off the visiting Mariners (13-6, 3-3), ranked No. 13 in Division 3AA.

In the Sunset League:

No. 8 Huntington Beach 57, Marina 31: Maya Kennedy scored 16 points, Kelsey Minato had 14 and Paola Roa had 10 for the visiting Oilers (15-4, 4-1), ranked No. 4 in Division 1A.

No. 3 Edison 59, Los Alamitos 37: Katie Lou Samuelson scored 22 points and Karlie Samuelson added 15 to lead the host Chargers (15-2, 5-0), ranked No. 5 in Division 1AA.

In the South Coast League:

No. 9 El Toro 59, Mission Viejo 38: Whitney Williams scored 19 points and Natalie Ness and Alyson Doherty chipped in with 12 and 11 points, respectively, to pace the host Chargers (20-2, 4-1), ranked No. 3 in Division 1A.

In the Trinity League:

Rosary 40, Santa Margarita 36: Isabel Serrano scored 13 points to help the visiting Royals (12-8, 1-3), ranked No. 11 in Division 4AA, hold off the Eagles (8-13, 0-4).

In the Sea View League:

Capistrano Valley 52, Trabuco Hills 35: Tara Casey, Conerie Brennan and Kasey Smith all scored in double figures to help the visiting Cougars (12-8, 5-0), ranked No. 8 in Division 1A, beat the Mustangs (13-11, 3-2) to remain unbeaten in league.

In the Express League:

Bethel Baptist 37, Eastside Christian 33: Priscilla Lopez scored 22 points to help the Warriors (9-4, 3-2) knock off the host Eagles (5-7, 2-2), ranked No. 14 in Division 6.