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By Loren Kopff
Sports Editor | Follow X
December 9, 2025
John Glenn High and Norwalk High wrapped up their annual girls varsity basketball classic last Saturday at Norwalk and the end results were not what both head coaches would have liked. While Glenn went winless in the four games, the sixth time since 2008 it has failed to win a game in the co-hosted event, the Lancers have gone 1-3 the past four seasons, which followed three straight seasons of going 2-2.
In the 13th place game, Norwalk fell to Kennedy High 49-31 as the Lancers have yet to find some type of stability through the first 10 games of the season. A two-game losing streak was erased with three straight wins, then a two-game skid, a win over Beverly Hills High on Dec. 3 and now another two game losing streak.
“That’s actually something we’ve been talking about to the girls; is our consistency and being able to stay competitive throughout our games regardless of opponents and scores up on the board,” said Norwalk head coach Ashley Baclaan. “Throughout this tournament, I feel like I saw a lot of good spurts with our physicality, picking up a little more and our intensity, especially on the defensive end. Hopefully, this can light something up for us as we move forward.”
It was a one-possession contest for the first 4:57 of the game until Liz Tirona scored a pair of baskets around one from TaNiya Paul as the Irish had a 13-9 lead after the first quarter. But Kennedy scored the first nine points of the second quarter, and it wasn’t until the 4:16 mark that sophomore Connie Esquival ended the field goal drought. Norwalk had missed 14 straight baskets and had eight in the game, five coming in the first half.
Norwalk’s second basket of the stanza came off a putback from freshman Isha Morales with 2:29 left in the half and the third came in the final seconds when sophomore Aleeah Lopez scored off one of her two steals.
The Lancers (4-6) would go eight of 16 from the free throw line in the second half and three of 20 from the field, never scoring consecutive points until there was less than 2:45 left to play. Esquival, who was named to the All-Tournament team, was clearly the team’s leader in this game, scoring 16 points and grabbing nine rebounds while Morales added nine rebounds and half a dozen points as only four starters scored for the Lancers.
“I think I am seeing quite a bit of growth; I want it a little faster, but I know the light is starting to flicker,” said Baclaan.
The Lancers hosted Samueli Academy this past Tuesday and went to Workman High the next night. They will welcome Western High on Thursday for the final game this month.
Norwalk began the tournament on Dec. 1 with a 57-27 loss to Huntington Beach High and after getting the win two days later, fell to Whittier High 35-25 last Friday. The Lancers have been dropped to the consolation side of the bracket in two straight seasons and 15 times since 1998. Over the last 27 seasons of the tournament, Norwalk has compiled a 39-65 record in co-hosted event.
It was a completely different story for Glenn, which had been absent from the tournament since 2022 because of injuries and other internal issues. But the Eagles returned only to go winless for the sixth time, first since 2021, after falling to Beverly Hills 37-13.
After defeating Lennox Academy 31-12 in the season opener on Nov. 17, Glenn has lost seven straight games, scoring a total of 59 points in the last six following a 50-35 setback to Bellflower High the day after its only win.
“I can’t sum it up,” said Glenn head coach Eric Peterson. “I really have no words to explain this year. I can’t even make anything up. To tell you the truth, it’s just one of those seasons. Players are just not as focused as they have been in the past.”
Sophomore Jay Curl scored 13 seconds into the contest last Saturday and tied the game 4-4 with 3:02 left in the first quarter. After that, the Eagles wouldn’t score again until the 4:16 mark of the second quarter. The game was still in reach at halftime, with the score 16-8, but Beverly Hills scored the first eight points of the second half to put the game out of reach.
Curl scored 10 of the team’s 13 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and had four steals. She has been the only consistent player out of a team of eight seniors and another sophomore plus a freshman that Peterson has called up from the junior varsity squad.
“She plays hard; she plays very hard,” said Peterson. “She plays hard all game long. There’s a lot of potential there…and she cares a lot.”
Glenn began the tournament with a 52-11 loss to Cantwell Sacred Heart of Mary High, then setbacks to Kennedy (51-10) and Gardena High (53-13). The Eagles have a similar record in this tournament as Norwalk does, going 37-55 since 1998, but has not been 2-2 since 2018. The last time Glenn won three of the four games was 2010.
“I don’t have any real feelings about that,” said Peterson. “I know we have lower level teams and those first [tournament] games pretty much went as I expected. I’m not feeling that great in the fact that we could have competed a little better in these last couple of games. But the first few games, I know the teams are way above our level of play.”
The Eagles will be busy over the next week or so as they hosted John Muir High this past Tuesday and went to Bassett High the next day and will welcome Samueli Academy on Friday before going to Firebaugh High on Monday and Santa Ana Valley High on Tuesday.
“I’m always optimistic about the teams going into [every] season,” said Peterson. “But as this season has progressed, we just haven’t had the production that I thought they’re capable of. They’re just not playing up to their expectations at all.”
Peterson later said that for the team to get somewhat better this month ahead of 605 League action, the players simply need to come to practice on a regular basis. Senior Stacy Hernandez was named to the All-Tournament team.
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