Calabasas girls defeat La Reina in non-league basketball contest

Acorn Sports Writer


The Calabasas girls’ basketball team defeated La Reina, 51-32, in a non-league game played at Calabasas High School last Saturday afternoon.


The win improved the Coyotes to 8-11 overall while the Regents fell to 4-10.


"It’s a nice win to get at this point in the season," said Calabasas’ first-year head coach Howard Entin. "The girls played really well today. They worked the ball around and shot the ball well."


Toni Zeigler, a sophomore point guard, led the Coyotes with 18 points. Senior forward Taylor Wolff had 15 points and 11 rebounds.


"Today was pretty good," said Zeigler. "It was the first time I actually stepped it up and started playing well, playing how I know I can play."


Zeigler scored seven points in each of the second and third quarters and did all her scoring in the first three quarters, after which Calabasas led, 46-25. Wolff scored six in a 13-7 first quarter for the Coyotes, and also did all her scoring in the first three quarters.


In the win over La Reina, contributions came from Sara Rosman and Jamie Fassberg, both juniors who scored five points, and senior Samantha Skore and junior Ellery Kassel, who both had four points.


The Coyotes led at halftime, 30-14.


Calabasas is 0-5 in Marmonte League play headed into this week’s action when the Coyotes were to have faced Moorpark yesterday and Simi Valley tomorrow at home at 7 p.m.


"The season is going fine, we’ve been competing pretty well," Entin said. "The Marmonte League has been a little tough, but we expected that. It’s a pretty big step for us."


Calabasas was in the Frontier League prior to this year.


"The program is rebuilding," Entin said. "We’re real happy with what’s happening at the lower levels and this team works hard. I’m a little disappointed that we haven’t done a little better in the Marmonte League, but we’ve at least competed in most of the games."


Entin added, "I’m for the most part pleased. The younger players on the team are stepping up and that’s a good thing. We knew it was going to take a year or two to build the program."


Despite having eight seniors on its 14-player roster this year—Wolff, Skore, Melissa Blumenfeld, Nicole Hutchinson, Ashley Grodnick, Jaimie Weiser, Christina Pascucci and Chelsea Graham—Entin said he has a good core of players who will return to lead next year’s team.


"We’ve got Toni (Zeigler) back, we’ve got Ellery Kassel back," said Entin. "We’ve got a lot of nice players back. Obviously we’ll miss some of our seniors, but we’ve got a good nucleus to start with next year. We’re excited about that."


Looking ahead to next year, Zeigler said, "It’s going to be different, but we’re going to have to step it up, with Taylor (Wolff) and all the seniors leaving. It’s going to be pretty hard, but I think we can do it."


Meanwhile, Wolff looks to finish the second half of the Marmonte League season on an upswing, knowing that much is expected from her.


"There’s a lot of people that look up to you and it can be a lot of pressure," Wolff said about being a senior leader. "We’re doing okay. We haven’t done as well in league as we wanted, but we’re trying. It’s our first year in the Marmonte League."


Entin is happy with his team’s progress


"They need to play a little better together, but it’s a great group of girls," he said.


The Coyotes are a mixture of returning varsity players with several who played JV last year. The roster includes junior Hayley Gartland and sophomore Tara Hale.


"It’s taken a little time to integrate that, but overall we’re pleased," Entin said of the mix. "We played a lot of games over the summer and the program as a whole is really stepping up, so in the next year or two we expect to, hopefully, compete."





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