60th ANNUAL ORANGE HOLIDAY CLASSIC: Valley Christian holds off Laguna Hills in pivotal pool play contest

December 31, 2025

By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X

ORANGE-The hottest girls basketball team in the area remained on fire in the early games of the 60^th Annual Orange Holiday Classic and in one of the rare occasions this season, Valley Christian High was pushed to the limit. The Defenders had lost a pair of games by five and six points, respectively, but found a way to hold off Laguna Hills High 53-50 last Saturday in a pool play game.

V.C. took the lead for good nearly halfway through the third quarter when sophomore Molly Douglas completed a three-point play to give her team a 31-30 lead midway through the third quarter. Over the next minute, junior Hannah Burgoyne sank a three-pointer, and a two-pointer as the Defenders went on a 13-3 run to lead by eight points.

That advantage would be cut in half as the Hawks scored the final four points of the stanza to end the quarter. But the teams would trade baskets in the fourth quarter with the lead anywhere from two to six points and despite hitting on 33 percent of their fourth quarter shots, the Defenders had enough to hold off Lagina Hills for their narrowest victory this season.

“We were trying to keep them on their heels, so I kept trying to switch back and forth from zone to man and it takes a little bit for us to be organized, and they’re getting it,” said V.C. head coach Dan Leffler. “I feel like they [had] good enough shooters; they ran a pretty good offense. We weren’t able to pressure as much as we want to because they had us so spread out, and they had their offense spread out.”

From the game’s opening tip to the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, the game would be dictated by a pair of blonde sharp shooters who coincidentally wear #11 on their respective team’s uniform. Burgoyne was five of 12 from the field in the first half, scoring 17 of her team’s 26 points including three of nine from beyond the arc while Keira McDermott was doing her part to keep up with Burgoyne as she connected on six of nine trifectas from the 5:52 mark of the second quarter to the midway mark of the fourth quarter. In the end, it was McDermott who had a game-high 26 points while Burgoyne led her team with 24 points along with nine steals and seven rebounds.

“I think because of the style we play, we’re trying to pressure and then at times, they want to go try to double, which isn’t always the best option,” said Leffler about McDermott. “So, we have to get better at that. We have to get better at probably being in more of a help spot rather than…having all five people on one side of the court. That’s definitely on us to be better at that.”

Douglas and freshman Ariel Martinez each had nine points with the former grabbing 10 rebounds and the latter adding three steals. However, one area that plagued the Defenders in the game and the final two games of the tournament came in the ball handling department.

Against Laguna Hills, the Defenders turned the ball over 19 times, however just seven after halftime. This past Monday in a 57-39 win over Apple Valley High, V.C turned the ball over 17 times and in the championship game against Fullerton High this past Tuesday, the maroon and gold had 17 miscues in a 44-33 setback.

“I think it’s a lot more about being used to being able to finish what you started,” said Leffler. “And, I’d like to think we’ve been there enough by this point, but it’s still a work in progress. We still panic a little bit with the ball. I don’t know if we’ve been in this spot enough to be able to be familiar with what this looks like.

“I’m excited about playing games like this because I feel like it makes us a lot better and helps us with the decision making process that we’re not good at,” he later added. “We have to take care of the ball in the fourth quarter and be able to finish what we’ve done.”

Burgoyne would have 17 points and 13 rebounds against Apple Valley while Martinez added 13 points and three steals. Against Fullerton, Martinez had a team-high 14 points and senior Gracie Verhoef added 11 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Burgoyne grabbed 15 rebounds, had three steals and two assists but was limited to just a three-pointer, which came 33 seconds into the game.

V.C. led Fullerton 23-12 with 3:44 left in the first half but would connect on just four of 31 field goals the remainder of the game. To add insult to injury, sophomore Jaiya Lee picked up her fourth foul with a minute left in the first half and senior Aniyah Peoples fouled out 46 seconds into the fourth quarter. Burgoyne and Martinez were named to the All-Tournament team.

Despite the loss in the championship game, V.C. (11-3) is off to the program’s best start through 14 games since the 2001-2002 season when that team also went 11-3 and finished 22-6. It’s the first time V.C. has won 11 games since going 11-10 in the 2021-2022 season. In fact, the Defenders have reached 10 wins just four times in the past eight seasons.

“I have some girls that this is their third year with me, and I think they’re getting used to the system,” said Leffler. “We’re figuring out how to win games. Obviously, we’ve played some games that probably were games that if we had to over again, I wouldn’t have scheduled them knowing what we can do. But it’s a credit to the girls; they’ve worked really hard, they buy in, they created a culture where we want to figure out how to be relevant.”

V.C. will host Maranatha High on Friday in the Olympic League opener, then travel to Long Beach Wilson High on Monday in a non-league tilt.