Sports briefs: Basketball showdown Friday

DOWNEY - The Downey High School boys' basketball team currently has an overall record of 12-4 and started league play Wednesday night against Lynwood at Downey (score unavailable at press time).Downey competed in the Maxpreps Holiday Classic in the Palms Springs area over the Christmas Break and went 2-2. The Vikings were defeated by King of Riverside 65-45 on 12/26, defeated Marantha of Pasadena 62-35 on 12/27, defeated Green Valley of Henderson, Neveda 56-53 on 12/28 and were defeated by Anchorage Christian of Anchorage, Alaska 77-70 in overtime on 12/30. The Vikings wrapped up their preseason schedule by defeating Schurr at Schurr 67-40 on 1/3 and by defeating Cerritos 72-48 at Staples Center in Los Angeles on 1/6. Downey will travel to cross-town rival Warren tonight to face the Bears at 7 p.m. The Downey High School girls' basketball team currently has an overall record of 9-7 and also started league play Wednesday night against Lynwood at Downey (score unavailable at press time). The Lady Vikings also competed in the Maxpreps Holiday Classic in the Palm Springs area over the Christmas Break and went 3-1. The Lady Vikings were defeated by Bellevue of Washington 56-36 on 12/26, defeated Palm Desert 65-29 on 12/27, defeated Dana Hills 69-39 on 12/28 and defeated Laguna Beach 59-40 on 12/30. The Lady Vikings wrapped up their preseason schedule by defeating La Serna 46-36 at Staples Center on 1/8, were defeated by Whittier 47-36 at Whittier on 1/10 and were defeated by Mark Keppel 63-24 at Mark Keppel on 1/11. The Lady Vikings travel to cross-town rival Warren tonight to face the Lady Bears at 5:15 p.m. *** The Warren High School boys' basketball team currently has an overall record of 5-10 and started San Gabriel Valley League play Wednesday at Gahr (score unavailable at press time) and will host cross-town rival Downey tonight at 7:00 p.m. The Bears had a busy Christmas Break. Warren competed in the Whittier Tournament where they went 2-2. The Bears defeated Alhambra 70-56 on 12/26, were defeated by Hacienda Heights Wilson 63-40 on 12/27, defeated Charter Oak 51-46 on 12/28 and were defeated by La Habra 79-64 on 12/30. The Bears wrapped up their busy preseason schedule by falling to Schurr at Warren 61-54 on 1/2 and by falling to Rancho Cucamonga 65-40 at Warren on 1/7. The Warren High School girls' basketball team currently has an overall record of 7-8 and started San Gabriel Valley League play Wednesday against Gahr at Gahr (score unavailable at press time). Warren will host cross-town rival Downey tonight at 5:15 p.m. The Lady Bears had a busy Christmas Break also. Warren competed in the Larry Doyle Tournament at Edison High School in Huntington Beach where they went 1-3. The Lady Bears were defeated by Redondo Union 49-39 on 12/26, were defeated by North (Torrance) 70-47 on 12/27, were defeated by Edison 56-40 on 12/28 and defeated Aliso Niguel 74-44 on 12/30. The Lady Bears wrapped up their busy preseason schedule by defeating Torrance 64-59 at Torrance on 1/8 and by defeating El Rancho 63-42 at El Rancho last Friday. Coaches Ryan Hart and Rachel Palmer, their staffs and players are looking forward to the start of league play. *** The Downey High School boys' soccer team currently has an overall record of 10-3-3 and started San Gabriel Valley League play this week. The Vikings were busy over Christmas Break competing in tournament play and wrapping up a busy preseason schedule. The Vikings played six tournament games over a two week period and went 3-2-1. The Vikings defeated Sweetwater 5-0 on 12/27, were defeated by Carlsbad 2-1 on 12/27, tied Servite 0-0 on 12/28, defeated Paramount 1-0 on 12/28 and were defeated by Cathedral 1-0 on 12/30. Downey played three final preseason games before the start of league play. Downey defeated Firebaugh 1-0 at Downey on 1/3, defeated El Rancho 1-0 at El Rancho on 1/8 and defeated Schurr 3-2 at Downey on 1/10. The Downey High School girls' soccer team currently has an overall record of 6-6-2 and started San Gabriel Valley League play this week. The Lady Vikings were also busy over Christmas Break competing in tournament play and wrapping up a busy preseason schedule. The Lady Vikings played four tournament games over a two week period and went 2-1-1. The Lady Vikings defeated Cabrillo 4-0 on 12/27, defeated Saint Joseph's 2-0 on 12/27, were defeated by Cypress 3-1 on 12/28 and tied Marina 1-1 on 12/28. The Lady Vikings played two final preseason games before the start of league play. Downey was defeated by Millikan 3-0 at Downey on 1/2 and defeated Saint Joseph's 3-0 at Downey on 1/9. *** The Warren High School wrestling team got off to a fast S.G.V.L. start by defeating an overmatched Gahr squad 71-3 last Thursday night at Gahr. With the win, the Bears improved to 1-0 in league competition. The Bears hosted cross-town rival Downey last night (scores unavailable at press time). Downey did not wrestle last week due to a bye in league competition. The Downey-Warren match is the Vikings' first league match. The winner of this Downey-Warren match will have the inside track to the San Gabriel Valley League title. Paramount, last year's league champion, is a contender as well. Justin Perez (106) of Warren opened up the dual meet with a forfeit and received six team points. Adrian Duarte (113) defeated his opponent 16-1 and earned five team points for his technical fall. Jacob Valdes (120) had a forfeit as did Justin Palacios (126). After the 126 pound match, Warren held a 23-0 lead. Warren's Mario Martinez (132) won his match 4-2, Zac Brito (138) won his match 8-3 and Jesus Mora pinned his Gahr opponent in the third period to earn six more team points. Warren now took a commanding 35-0 lead. Warren's Oliver Elizalde (152) pinned his opponent in 44 seconds and Justin Gutierrez (160) won his match 5-4 after his Gahr opponent could not continue with ten seconds left due to injury. Gabriel Rodriguez (171) had a forfeit and Brian Vives (182) lost to his Gahr opponent 6-4 in overtime. Warren's Alex Mendez (195), Jonathan Vega (220) and Juaquin Durazo (285) all won by pin.

********** Published: Jan. 16, 2014 - Volume 12 - Issue 40