Sports briefs: Water water polo stays perfect in league

DOWNEY - The Warren High School girls' water polo team currently has an overall record of 9-5 and are 3-0 in S.G.V.L. play.Warren defeated Gahr 26-10 on 1/7, defeated cross-town rival Downey 20-6 on 1/14 and beat Cerritos 17-6 on Tuesday. Warren is currently ranked second in Division 5 behind top-ranked Riverside Poly. The Lady Bears have played a challenging preseason schedule to prepare themselves for league play and the C.I.F. playoffs. Warren's five preseason losses have all been to ranked teams. Warren lost to Mater Dei 17-9 (Division 1 #3), San Marcos 8-2 (Division 1 #8), Cathedral Catholic 12-9 (San Diego Section), Santa Margarita 14-9 (Division 2 #1) and Riverside Poly 16-15 in overtime (Division 5 #1) last Saturday. Warren recently placed 13th, going 2-3, at the 32-team Villa Park tournament. Warren will be playing this weekend in San Diego at the 32-team America's Finest City tournament and will compete at the 32-team Southern California Championships 2/8-10 at Irvine High School. The Lady Bears have been paced by seniors Jocelyn Castro, Kayla Casas and Destiny Hernandez. Goalkeeper Natalie Manzanares has also played well in net for Warren. Marilyn Briceno and Kim Shepherd have also stepped up their games to pace the Lady Bears. Coach Cordero maintains that "all the hard work is starting to show and the pieces of the puzzle are starting to fit as we are nearing the middle of the season." Coach Cordero also said that "Riverside Poly, Warren and Crescenta Valley are all very close in talent and will contend for the Division 5 title." *** The Warren High School girls' basketball team defeated the Lady Vikings 33-26 at Warren last Friday night, improving their overall record of 9-8 and 2-0 in San Gabriel Valley League play. The Lady Bears traveled to Dominguez on Wednesday to face the Lady Dons (score unavailable at press time). Warren will host league favorite Lynwood (9-5, 2-0) tonight at the "Cave." With the loss to Warren, Downey now has an overall record of 9-9 and are 0-2 in S.G.V.L. play. Downey traveled to Gahr (6-9, 0-1) on Wednesday night (score unavailable at press time) to play the Lady Gladiators and will host the Paramount Lady Pirates (5-11 overall) tonight. The Warren Lady Bears got out to an early lead against the Downey Lady Vikings and led 20-16 at halftime. The game went back and forth and was kept close by Downey's zone defense. This same zone defense held league favorite Lynwood to only 34 points. Downey kept things close in the third quarter by only allowing the Lady Bears to score seven points. The score at the end of the third quarter was 27-21, Warren. The Lady Bears outscored Downey 6-5 in the fourth quarter and held on for the hard-fought, defensive 33-26 win. Downey and Warren will meet again in the much anticipated rematch at Downey on February 5th. Coach Palmer of Warren and Coach Harris of Downey will both have their teams primed and ready for round two. Things are just starting to heat up for girls' basketball in S.G.V.L. play. *** The Downey High School wrestling team wrestled against cross-town rival Warren at Warren last Thursday night in their annual S.G.V.L. dual meet clash. Downey defeated Warren 47-12 and won eleven of fourteen matches in the process. With the win, Downey improved to 1-0 in San Gabriel Valley League competition and with the loss, Warren fell to 1-1. Downey wrestled at Gahr last night (scores unavailable at press time). The Vikings will host Paramount next Thursday 1/30 and will conclude S.G.V.L. dual meet action at Dominguez on 2/4. The Downey-Warren match started with the heavyweights at 285 pounds. Downey's Anthony Florido defeated Warren's Joaquin Durazo 6-1 and the Vikings took an early 3-0 lead. Downey's Mark Lopez (106) pinned Richard Medina in the second period and extended Downey's lead to 9-0. Warren's Adrian Duarte (113) earned a hard-fought 3-0 victory over Downey's Andrew Lopez and Warren earned three team points. After three matches, Downey led 9-3. Downey won the next six matches and stretched their lead to 32-3. Carlos Rivas (120) won by a second period pin, Armando Padilla (126) won a 6-4 decision, Johnny Robles (132) won a 6-3 decision, Antonio Santana (138) won a 4-1 decision, Brian Puente (145) won a 6-4 decision and Dylan Moreno (152) earned five team points with his 15-0 technical fall. Warren won by forfeit at 160 pounds due to an illness to Downey's Jacob Beltran. The score then became 32-9. Downey captain Juan Soto (170) won by pin in the second period and Stephen Chavez (182) won a 3-1 decision in overtime. Downey clinched the victory after Juan Soto won his match. After Soto's match, Downey led 38-9. Downey's Jorge Guerrero (195) lost a hard-fought 7-6 decision and the Vikings' Benjamin Cuellar (220) won the final match of the evening by recording a pin at the :58 mark of the first period. *** The Downey High School boys' basketball team currently has an overall record of 15-4 and are 2-0 in S.G.V.L. play. The Vikings defeated Lynwood 58-46 at Downey on 1/15, defeated Warren at Warren 62-49 last Friday night and traveled to Gahr (9-9, 1-1) on Wednesday to face the Gladiators (score unavailable at press time). Downey will host Paramount (11-7, 2-0) tonight. With the loss to Downey, Warren fell to 5-12 overall and 0-2 in San Gabriel Valley League play. The Bears traveled to Dominguez (0-12, 0-2) on Wednesday to play the Dons (score unavailable at press time) and will host Lynood (10-9, 1-1) tonight. In the Downey-Warren game, the Vikings were paced by Jacob Garcia's 19 points, Sal Carlos' 15 points, Jose Gonzalez's 14 points, Jeraun Richards' 9 points and David Arellano's 5 points. The Bears were paced by Ronald Ellison's 14 points in the losing effort. Downey scored the first four points of the game and forced Warren's Coach Hart to take an early time out. Downey led at the end of the first quarter 12-7. Warren tightened things up a bit in the second quarter and outscored the Vikings 17-14. The score at halftime was 26-24 Downey. Downey went on a 9-0 run to start the second half and outscored the Bears 18-12 in the third quarter. Downey led at the end of the third quarter 44-36. The Vikings continued to use their size advantage on the inside and outscored the Bears 18-13 in the fourth quarter. Downey pulled away late and came away with the hard-fought 62-49 win.

********** Published: Jan. 23, 2014 - Volume 12 - Issue 41