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By Loren Kopff
@LorenKopff on Twitter
For most of the area basketball and soccer teams, their respective league seasons kicked off on Jan. 3 or will begin today and this evening. The Gahr High boys and soccer teams began San Gabriel Valley League action this past Wednesday as the regular season comes to an end on the last day of the month. Listed below are how all the 28 winter teams are doing.
ARTESIA
Both Artesia High basketball teams are above .500 and figure to factor in the 605 League playoff race. They visited Oxford Academy on Jan. 3 with the boys at 10-8 and the girls off to a surprising 12-6 mark, but losers of three straight games, all coming in the West Coast Jamboree. The 12 victories are the most for the program since the 2011-2012 season and two more wins will assure the Lady Pioneers of their first non-losing season since the 2006-2007 season.
The boys soccer team, ranked second in the CIF-Southern Section Division 3 poll, defeated Gahr 9-1 on Dec. 27 last time out to improve to 7-1-2. The Pioneers should be the favorites to win the league title. As for the Lady Pioneers, they haven’t played since Dec. 20 and are 4-3-4. They are also on a three-game winning streak, all by identical 2-1 scores.
Upcoming schedule:Basketball and girls soccer host Whitney High on Saturday and visit John Glenn High on Tuesday while boys soccer will play at the opposite sites.
CERRITOS
The boys basketball team went 7-10 in November and December but has lost eight of the last 11 games. At one point, the Dons went through a six-game losing streak. The Lady Dons entered the week at 9-5 but has not won more than two games in a row.
The boys soccer team went 4-6-1 in non-league action and failed to win any of its four games in the recent Marina Tournament while the girls, who haven’t played since Dec. 18, ended 2018 at 6-2-4 and were ranked sixth in Division 4.
Upcoming schedule:Basketball and girls soccer hosted Whitney on Jan. 3 and will entertain Glenn on Saturday and Pioneer High on Tuesday while boys soccer will play at the opposite sites.
GAHR
The boys basketball team is primed to return to the playoffs after missing out last season. At 11-7, the Gladiators already have exceeded last season’s 8-8 non-league mark. The team began the season with three straight wins and has not been at .500 thus far.
It’s a completely different story for the girls, who have stumbled to a 4-11 mark with a 10-player team consisting of six juniors, two seniors and two freshmen. Currently, the Lady Gladiators are on a four-game losing streak, which came in the Savanna/Buena Park Tournament. Both teams will host Dominguez High tonight and Lynwood High on Monday before travelling to Warren High on Wednesday.
Both soccer teams have struggled as they entered their SGVL openers against Dominguez this past Wednesday. The boys were sitting at 0-4-1 with four goals scored while the girls had a 3-5-2 with 12 goals scored. The boys will host Lynwood today, travel to Warren on Tuesday and entertain Paramount High on Thursday while the girls will play at the opposite sites.
JOHN GLENN
The boys basketball team has lost six in a row and only have two wins in 18 games this season while the girls are slightly better at 6-12. However, the girls are also struggling with offense as they have scored at least 40 points four times.
It’s no better on the soccer pitch where the boys went 0-8 in non-league action with five goals scored while the girls are winless in four games and have been outscored 46-2.
Upcoming schedule:Basketball and girls soccer hosted Pioneer on Jan. 3, visited Cerritos on Saturday and will be home to Artesia on Tuesday while boys soccer will play at the opposite sites.
NORWALK
After losing the first two games of the season, the boys basketball team, which played in four tournaments, has rebounded for a 10-9 mark while the girls had an up and down non-league season, trading wins and losses. Currently, the Lady Lancers are 7-8 and have lost a season-high three straight games.
Meanwhile, the boys soccer team is as hot as one could be, going 10-0-1 thus far with seven shutouts and five goals given up. The Lancers are also ranked third in Division 4. As for the girls soccer team, it is 3-11 and have been blanked eight times.
Upcoming schedule:Basketball and boys soccer will host La Mirada High in the Suburban League opener on Tuesday with girls soccer on the road.
VALLEY CHRISTIAN
With just one returning player out of 10 on the boys basketball team, the Defenders have managed to go 7-7 entering their Olympic League opener, which was Jan. 3 against Village Christian High. The girls basketball team won the first two games of the season before going 3-13 since Nov. 21. The Lady Defenders did post a split of four games in the recent Larry Doyle/Dan Wiley Orange County Tournament of Champions.
The boys soccer team, which hasn’t played since Dec. 22, entered 2019 at 7-3 while the girls soccer team failed at its bid to win a third straight Ontario Christian Tournament. The Lady Defenders fell to Colony High 3-2 to drop to 9-5. Before that, the team had won four straight games, outscoring their opponents 9-3.
Upcoming schedule:Basketball and girls soccer will visit Heritage Christian High on Saturday and host Whittier Christian High on Tuesday while boys soccer will play at the opposite sites.
WHITNEY
The boys basketball team (4-13) snapped a six-game losing streak by knocking off Santa Ana Valley High 43-24 in the final game of the Orange Tournament as the Wildcats entered its 605 League opener on Jan. 3 at Cerritos. The girls group, which began the season with five straight wins, hasn’t played since Dec. 22 and was sporting a 13-4 record before the Cerritos contest.
The boys soccer team, absent since Dec. 20, had a mark of 2-5-2 with nine goals scored while the girls soccer team, which also hasn’t been in action since Dec. 20, was 5-2.
Upcoming schedule:Basketball and girls soccer will visit Artesia on Saturday before hosting arch rival Oxford Academy on Tuesday while the boys soccer team will be at the opposite sites.
