MID-CITIES BASKETBALL: Norwalk soars over Firebaugh in league opener behind Sanchez, Zazueta

January 6, 2026

By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X

 Norwalk High boys basketball head coach Jim Webster is hoping last Friday’s Mid-Cities League opening win over Firebaugh High is the beginning of something good over the next month. The winningest head coach in the program’s history with 171 wins in 16 seasons over two stints was denied a trip to the CIF-Southern Section playoffs last season despite the Lancers finishing with a 16-11 overall record, but fourth in the league.

Norwalk was 4-2 last January to begin league but ended up 5-5 and was not given an at-large bid despite finishing five games above .500. While it’s not automatic, a team must finish the regular season with at least a .500 record to be considered an at-large representative. So, when the Lancers scored the first 14 points against the Falcons, things were looking good to get one of the necessary four wins to assure themselves of a winning season. But Webster isn’t thinking of an at-large berth; he has something better on his mind.

“That’s got to be the goal; league championship is always the first goal and competing every game,” he said. “If we can do that. I’m sure we’ll take care of business in some matter one way or another getting in [the playoffs]. But 14 [wins] is no guarantee, which we found out last year. So, we’ll keep playing one game at a time.”

Webster told his team that the first four minutes of a game are important; that it sets the tone because he knew Firebaugh had some guys who can make some shots if they get going. Sure enough, those 14 points came within the first 3:09 of the contest and the hosts cruised to a 66-45 victory. Firebaugh had entered the game with a 1-10 record with six losses coming by at least 22 points.

Four of the five starters scored at least a point and after Nate Torres hit a three-pointer to get Firebaugh on the board with 3:26 left in the quarter, the Lancers closed out the stanza with a 7-0 run. Seniors Jesus Sanchez and David Zazueta, and sophomore Bhavya Verma all scored half a dozen points in the quarter as Norwalk was comfortably ahead 21-3 after the first eight minutes.

“He’s got to be the one who’s going to make the three’s,” said Webster of Verma. “We do try to get him open and get him some shots. Hopefully, he can shoot 40 percent, which would be great.”

While the Lancers (11-7, 1-0) connected on six of 13 shots in the second quarter, Verma has been a pleasant spark in his first season on the varsity squad. He was three of four from downtown in the half and ended the game with 11 points. In the first 18 games of the season, he has scored 11 points or more nine times, including the first four of the season.

But the leader of the team has been Zazueta, who posted a game-high 21 points, the third time he has reached at least 20 points this season while Sanchez added 15 points. All three also had five rebounds and a pair of assists. Joining the party off the bench was sophomore Noah Correa, who contributed with 10 points and six rebounds.

“Him and [Verma] usually change spots for each other depending on foul trouble,” Webster said of Correa. “But they usually come in for each other, and they can score.”

Even though the Falcons have been struggling this season, they showed flashes here and there as Jaelyn Miller hit a pair of three-pointers in the second quarter, the second making it a 31-17 contest with 2:09 left in the half. Then Miller and Phillip Prince, who came off the bench, each scored half a dozen points in the third quarter, accounting for all but two points Firebaugh would score in the stanza. Prince ended the night with 17 points while Miller added 16, and Webster believes those two will be different players when the teams meet on Jan. 21 at Firebaugh.

“I think we were prepared to play, which was evident in all phases,” said Webster. “I know they seemed to be a little off as far as their starters with some of the guys coming in who didn’t start.”

“They played a tough [non-league] schedule, and they’ve had some personnel issues probably just with guys hurt,” he later said. “But the players they have back; some of them are good shooters. They can drive and they can make some plays, and they’re going to be tough to guard when they get a full staff. We just have to make sure we have a little bit of a different plan next time.”

Norwalk has won at least 11 games in the past four seasons and have won at least 10 games 15 times since the 2006-2007 season with nine coming under Webster’s watch and the other six with former head coach Brent Campanelli at the helm. But the Lancers have advanced to the playoffs eight times since the 2008-2009 season.

And Webster’s team entered the league opener coming off a 2-2 performance in the Oxford Academy Douglas Uselton Memorial D5 Challenge Tournament.

“The good thing was we started playing better the last three games of that tournament,” said Webster. “Even though we lost to Pacifica, we were 29-29 at one point, and then [Pacifica] went on a run that kind of opened it, and we couldn’t keep up. But we did see a good improvement on our defense and just overall, kind of some cohesion on defense and playing a little stingier and filling in those gaps.”

Norwalk will host Lynwood High on Friday and go to Warren High on Wednesday.

Prior to the boys game, the Norwalk girls barely broke a sweat against the winless Falcons in a 76-4 victory. The Lancers scored the first 43 points of the game, taking advantage of poor ball handling. Firebaugh turned the ball over 28 times in the first half, 17 of which went for osteals.

Meanwhile, Firebaugh’s first shot attempt didn’t come until there was 1:54 remaining in the first quarter, its first point was a free throw with 2:06 left in the first half and its only basket was a three-pointer from Frida Franco with just over a minute before halftime.

For the Lancers, who improved to 9-0 all time against Firebaugh, all 11 players who were suited up had at least a steal and five players scored at least 11 points. Sophomore Aleeah Lopez and six-foot freshman Isha Morales each scored 15 points with Morales grabbing eight rebounds and Lopez picking up four steals. Sophomore Connie Esquival had 14 points, eight rebounds, five steals and three assists while senior Monica Ruiz came off the bench to add a dozen points, five steals and three rebounds to the stat sheet.

As a team, the Lancers (8-6, 1-0), who will entertain Bellflower High on Friday and travel to Warren on Wednesday, had 37 rebounds, 25 steals and 13 assists while the Falcons attempted only seven shots in the first half.