By Shanin Thomas
La Habra Journal

The La Habra High School Highlanders will field their first women’s golf team for the 2015 season.
Last year, La Habra High School created a women’s golf club in preparation of creating a competitive team for this upcoming fall season.

2015 LHHS Girls Golf Team

About 15 girls joined the club with little to no experience but lots of enthusiasm and interest.
Head Coach Cody Verdugo said that most of the girls had never played before. “Only three girls had golf clubs, but at least 10 took a liking to golf. I am very pleased with the growth we have seen,” he said.
The golf club at La Habra High School included instructions for the basics of the sport. Not only did the girls in the club learn to hit a plastic golf ball in the football stadium, Coach Verdugo also taught the girls golf etiquette.
“Golf is like an onion. There are layers to the sport. It is not just about hitting the golf ball,” Verdugo said.

Interest in girls golf has not only sparked at La Habra High School but in other Freeway League schools as well.
Fullerton, Sunny Hills and Buena Park have decided to field a girls golf team this season. They will join Troy, which already had a team in place.

Troy High School will be the most competitive women’s golf team this upcoming season because they previously fielded a girls’ golf team and have competitive returners.

Mandy Arriola finishes a swing during practice. The lefty looks to help lead the Lady Highlanders during their inaugural season.

In fact, last season Troy’s women’s team ranked No. 1 in Orange County, No. 3 in the CIF Southern Section, and No. 5 in the state of California.

Preseason will begin in late August and league competition will start on Sept. 13.
For Verdugo, the decision to move from being on the coaching staff of La Habra Football to take up the challenge of starting a girls golf team was to follow his passion.

Verdugo fell in love with the sport of golf in his senior year of college at Chapman University. Although he has played football his entire life, golf has become a sport he has become passionate about.
Additionally, Verdugo’s son and three daughters have also taken a liking to the sport and participate competitively as golfers.

Coach Verdugo proved his coaching ability last season as the La Habra men’s golf team finished eighth in the Southern division, the best finish in the school’s history. The Whittier Daily News honored Verdugo as 2015 Coach of the Year.

The amount of money invested in women’s golf college scholarships is another reason Coach Verdugo has created a women’s golf team to accompany the men’s team.

Although the growth rate of participation of women has almost tripled men in the last few years, women still make up less than 25 percent of golfers, according to athleticscholarships.net.

According to scholarshipstats.com, in 2014 the number of male high school golfers is double the amount of female golfers. However, Division I universities offer six scholarships to female golfers as opposed to the four and a half to male golfers.

Alyssa Heidrich takes a swing during practice.

That growth rate was shown during the first day of La Habra’s women’s golf tryouts Wednesday afternoon at Westridge Golf Club.

Twelve returners from the golf club were present as well as eight additional girls. The additional girls who showed up at tryouts did not know much golf etiquette, but they were athletic, Coach Verdugo said.

“It would be rare for someone to show up and be completely ready,” Verdugo said.

Coach Verdugo is looking to field a team between 15 and 20 girls. Although only seven players compete in a match for both varsity and junior varsity, 20 girls is a good number to manage girls who are still developing their skills as golfers, he said.

“Returners will be the foundation of the varsity team,” Coach Verdugo said.

The Lady Highlanders hit the links for the first time on September 9 against Empire League champion Valencia at Alta Vista Country Club in Placentia at 4 p.m.

2015 Lady Highlander Golf Team Roster

Mandy Arriola
Alex Barber
Nikki Chamberlain
Kira Cauley
Alyssa Enriquez
Haylee Enriquez
Alyssa Heidrich
Aurora Heuermann
Charlotte Irirzarry
Samantha Parr
Janet Romero
Julia Sanchez
Jena Schuh
Dominique Tosunian
Galina Tressler
Frankie Valencia

Coach Cody Verdugo gets the team ready for its first season.

By Sarah Fenton
La Habra Journal

The La Habra girls’ soccer team won its first Freeway league game against Buena Park, 7-0, at home Tuesday afternoon.

“In league every game matters, so we knew we had to play hard,” said La Habra head coach Matt Sanger. “We wanted to start off strong and send a message to our league that we are here to win it.”
The Lady Highlanders (3-6-1, 1-0) took turns scoring and dominated the Coyotes (2-10-1, 0-1) on both offense and defense the whole game.
“We worked on possession and we got to work on some of our set plays,” Sanger said. “It’s not so much this game that we’re looking at, we’ve been preparing for the season to start. In preseason we got to try some things out and we got to test things.”
La Habra took an early lead in the 6th minute with an assist from Taleah Carter to Sarah Wieland who finished the play.
The Highlanders took control of the first half and maintained possession of the ball in Buena Park territory but had trouble finishing their shots.
“We have a lot of young players and with young players you have inconsistencies so what we need is our young players to get more experience and to start playing more confidently,” Sanger said.
Late in the first half the Highlanders advanced their lead to 2-0 with help from Alexis Morales. The Highlanders held the lead over Buena Park going into halftime.
La Habra came out fighting in the second half.
“For the second half we went back to our game plan of playing simple, moving the ball quickly, and not getting stuck,” Sanger said. “We tried to play a more simple game and we found spaces and we were able to attack a lot more.”
The Highlanders sco quickly with an early goal off a corner kick tapped in by Darriell Franklin to advance the lead to 3-0.
Minutes later, La Habra found another scoring opportunity when the ball got loose in front of Buena Park’s goal. The ball bounced around in front of the goal and the Highlanders tapped it in before the Coyotes could clear it out.
The Highlanders kept pushing the ball forward and Chloey Cooksey scored two consecutive goals from left field to advance their lead to 6-0 over the Coyotes.
In the final minutes of the game, Regina Sanchez added one more point to the scoreboard by tapping in a corner kick from Wieland.
“A game like this might look like we played a perfect game when you look at the score but we have a lot of things we have to fix,” Sanger said. “Mostly it’s just little mistakes.”
With their first Freeway league win under their belt, the Highlanders will travel to Fullerton and take on the Indians Wednesday afternoon.
“I think we did a much better job in the second half,” Sanger said. “The biggest thing for us is our intensity. We have to bring a high level of intensity no matter who we play. Any team in this league can be dangerous so we need to make sure that we come prepared.”

By Nathan Percy
La Habra Journal

It’s become clear that the Whittier Christian girls basketball team has found it’s recipe for success and it was on display again in the team’s 47-30 home win over Carpinteria in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 4A playoffs.

The Lady Heralds have relied on forcing turnovers throughout and pulling away in the second half over the past two weeks, which has led to a secured second-place finish in the Olympic League and a return trip to the second round in Division 4A.

“The nice thing is that they’re learning and they’re a good group of girls that just want to get better,” said Richard Villeza, Whittier Christian head coach.

Sydney Lopez once again proved to be the most dominant on the court, putting up 16 points, all in the paint, to go along with 16 rebounds.

However, early on it was Hannah Yoshihara that sparked the Lady Heralds to a 9-6 lead after the first quarter.

“Sydney really led us during that run, she really knows how to pick her spots,” Villeza said. “It’s all about confidence and Hannah had it tonight too after she knocked down that first shot and that was huge because it opened Sydney up to attack inside.”

The junior hit a 3-pointer and scored seven of the team’s first quarter points.

But Carpinteria took advantage of a cold streak by Whittier Christian to start the second quarter.

The Lady Warriors took their lone lead at 10-9 midway through the second quarter. Not willing to be outdone, Lopez took her team on her back and muscled an 8-0 run to close out the half as Whittier Christian led 17-10.

Carpinteria fared better in the third quarter and guard Elena Schneider scored eight of her 10 points after the break as the Lady Warriors pulled to within four points.

At one point in the third quarter, Carpinteria tied the score at 25-25, but the Lady Heralds put in two baskets to cling to a four-point lead.

“We got caught a little bit in the third quarter, but the main thing is that they weathered it and they didn’t panic,” Villeza said.

Having felt the pressure, Whittier Christian responded by matching it’s most productive quarter of the season with 18 fourth quarter points, which the Lady Heralds also accomplished in the third quarter of a nonleague game against Calvary Chapel of Santa Ana, Dec. 4, 2012.

Six Lady Heralds contributed in the scoring, led by point guards Raylene Olivares and Priscilla Zamarano, who scored four points each.

Megan Kleber contributed with six second half points and 10 rebounds for Whittier Christian.

“Just the presence she gives us inside takes pressure off of our shooters,” Villeza said. “Sometimes she’s a bit aggressive and that gets her in foul trouble, but we’re doing a good job of monitoring that.”

While Schneider was a bright spot, guard Bethany Lugo helped with five points for the Lady Warriors, who finished with a 12-13 overall record.

Whittier Christian will take its show on the road against No. 2 St. Monica Catholic, Saturday night at 7 p.m.

“We’re going to practice and work on some things,” Villeza said. “We’re going to put our best team out there and do what we can to try and win.”

By Jeremiah Girard
La Habra Journal

The La Habra High School Lady Highlanders’ water polo team fell short in the first round of the CIF Playoffs against the Capistrano Valley Lady Cougars, 9-7, Thursday at Fullerton College.

Both teams played great defense in the first quarter. La Habra did a great job shutting down the dangerous scorers on Capo Valley.

After the first quarter, the score was 0-0. The teams would both pick up their offense in the last three quarters, and the game was very back and forth.

Gabbi Garcia of La Habra had two goals in the second and gave the Lady Highlanders a 2-1 lead with less than two minutes left in the half. Then, two costly ejections for La Habra led to easy goals for the Cougars. They took advantage of the two six-on- five opportunities, and Madison Masushima scored on both possessions.

She also had the first goal for the Cougars, bringing her first half total to three.

“The coach warned us about her, and gave us all jobs to do but some of them were not done properly,” said junior Raney Remme. “Sometimes we did do them right. Like in the first, we shut her down.”

At the half, the Cougars led 3-2.

Early in the third, Remme netted a goal to tie the game at 3-3. The tie would not hold up for long.

Masushima got a breakaway and was fouled from behind, giving her a penalty shot against the goalie. She made it no problem and took and took a 4-3 lead for Capistrano Valley.

Remme would answer right back with a beautiful goal that went right under the goalies arm to the bottom, right corner of the net.

The Cougars closed out the third quarter on a 3-0 run, including another by Masushima and took a 7-4 lead into the fourth.

The lead was too much for the Lady Highlanders, who could not quite come back. Garcia added another goal in the fourth to give her three for the game. Masushima added two more fourth quarter goals, to give her seven on the day.

“I thought we played really well today, especially in six-on-five situations,” said Coach Robertson. “But at the end of the day we had three players that we needed to stop, and stopped two out of three.”

The loss ends the season for the Lady Highlanders. They finished the season with a 13-14 record, but they are a young squad with a lot of potential. Coach Robertson just finished her first year as coach, and will be more familiar with the team next year.

“I thought we had a good season overall,” said Robertson. “I have a whole starting lineup coming back next year, and will have a lot more experienced players.”

“I think we played pretty well this season,” added Garcia, also a junior. “We had a good bond this season, and I can’t wait for next year.

By Jeremiah Girard
La Habra Journal

The Sonora Lady Raiders basketball team outlasted the Murrieta Mesa Lady Rams, 45-33, in a sometimes gritty, sometimes sloppy kind of game Thursday nights at Sonora.

With the win, the Raiders will move into the second round and take on Agoura High School for the third year in a row in the playoffs.

Both teams played pretty sloppy early. Both were playing a pressure defense, and neither team head their minds in the game offensively, making for a big number of turnovers.

At the end of the first quarter Murrieta Mesa had a 9-8 advantage.

“It was definitely not pretty tonight,” said Coach Melissa Barajas. “But we knew this team was going to be tough.”

The Lady Raiders came out in the second quarter and picked up their defensive pressure. The pressure allowed Sonora to play its usual offense, which starts with creating opportunities on defense.

The Lady Rams seemed to be trying everything to keep Sonora’s center, Kylie Rodriguez, out of the game. Mesa showed some man coverage, a 2-3 zone, and even a 1-3-1 zone in the first half, and it worked.

With Rodriguez taken out of the game, Senior Guard Margo Campos rose to the occasion. Campos had six points in the quarter, and kept Sonora’s stagnant offense in the game.

The Lady Raiders took a 19-17 lead into the half.

Rodriguez was able to wake up a little bit early in the third quarter. She had two offensive rebounds and put backs in the quarter.

Still, neither team could get their offense firing on all cylinders.

The third quarter would have been dominated by Mesa if it wasn’t for great defense by the Lady Raiders, lead by Lauren Nakahara. None of what she did will show up in the stat sheet, but may have easily been what won the game for Sonora.

Nakahara took three charges in the quarter alone, and also got her hands on multiple held balls. She only had five points in the game, on five of six free throws, but played as big of a part as anybody in the win.

“Just having Naki help me out tonight was huge on defense,” Rodriguez said. “Whenever a girl got behind me I could count on Lauren to take the charge.”

At the end of three, the score was 25-24 in favor of Sonora.

The fourth quarter was a completely different story from the rest of the game. Sonora outscored the Lady Rams 20-9 in the quarter, and showed why they are a two seed and are favored to make a deep playoff run.

The late offensive onslaught was lead by the Sonora’s big three of seniors: Campos, Rodriguez and Avalon James. Campos had eight of her 16 points in the quarter, Rodriguez would not be out done, and had six of her 16 in the quarter. And James had all of her five points in the fourth.

“I think the end of the game was a huge testament to the seniors,” Barajas said. “They were struggling offensively throughout, but they stuck with the game plan and stayed composed.”

“Margo and Kylie really stepped it up at the end,” Nakahara added. “We realized that we needed to step it up if we were going to win and move on.”

The win sets up a rubber match with Agoura.

“We played them two years ago at their place and beat them,” Barajas said. “And they beat us last year.”

“We have unfinished business,” Campos added. “We need to take care of business.”

The players seem to be really excited for that game, and know that they have to step it up if they are going to win that one.

“I think we have grown up a lot since then,” Campos said. “Last year we went down and panicked, but I don’t see that happening this year.”

“We need to rebound and play defense better,” Rodriguez said. “When we do that, it can be an explosion on the court.”

By Nathan Percy
La Habra Journal

With an automatic playoff berth on the line, the La Habra girls basketball team made a loud statement in a 59-28 home victory over Sunny Hills in a one-game playoff to determine the third place finisher in the Freeway League, Friday afternoon.

Defensive adjustments made by Head Coach Jim Bohn seemed to make a difference, as the Lady Lancers’ two leading scorers were held to six combined points.

“Sunny Hills is a good team and they always give us a run for our money,” Bohn said. “We wanted to get back for the loss last Friday and show what our girls could do in a four-quarter game. Our girls had to make a statement and they did a great job.”

Lizette Martinez was given the task of guarding Sunny Hills’ leading scorer Madison Cruse and in doing so, held Cruse to her lowest scoring output of the season, three points.

Kaili Peko was assigned to guard Justis Simpson and held her to three free throws after she scored a team-high 17 points against Sonora, Thursday night.

“As far as a defensive front, all together, they did fantastic,” Bohn said. “I told Lizette and Kaili their assignments and asked them for their best effort. I think experience from other games against Troy and some others helped out and I told them that I didn’t care about the scoring, I was proud of their defense.”

The moves were made as an attempt to keep Allyson O’Brien and Amy Wilbourn out of foul trouble. The duo, along with Cyrena Gonzalez, all fouled out when the two teams met a week prior.

Consider the switches a success.

O’Brien led the team with 18 points and scored 14 in the second half, but the loudest contribution came from Martinez, who scored a season-high 17 points and nailed seven long jump shots from just inside the 3-point line.

Martinez’ points were crucial in the first half, her six points in the second quarter helped give La Habra a 24-13 halftime lead.

She didn’t let up after the break either, scoring seven points in the third quarter to further the separation.

“I thought Lizette played excellent today on both sides,” Bohn said. “She shot very well, others contributed too and that’s what we need. I thought Cyrena played very well in the post.”

O’Brien took over the reigns in the fourth quarter, draining two 3-pointers early on as part of a 22-point finish by the Lady Highlanders.

The third meeting between schools ended a lot like their first meeting at Sunny Hills High, Jan. 11, with La Habra running away late after a close first quarter.

In both instances, the Lady Highlanders’ defense forced a large number of turnovers, leading to fast break points.

Gonzalez prevented Sunny Hills from scoring points in the paint, as she was able to block or at least alter most close-range shots.

Marjani Knighten led the Lady Lancers with nine points and scored all of them in a 12-point third quarter, Sunny Hills’ most productive quarter of the afternoon.

The Lady Highlanders outscored Sunny Hills 22-3 in the fourth quarter to claim the league’s third and final guaranteed playoff spot in CIF Division 3AAA.

CIF playoff pairings will be released Sunday afternoon and, depending on its ranking, La Habra could still host a first round playoff game.

Regardless of where it’s held, Bohn says his team’s confidence could be back to where it was after La Habra won it’s own Lady Highlander Classic tournament back in December.

“Our team has kind of been on an up-and-down roller coaster,” Bohn said. “I guess you wouldn’t want it any other way, three wins in one week and having others step up now and contributing helps out. I think the confidence that was built this week will help us as we go forward.”

My Jeremiah Girard
La Habra Journal

The Sonora Lady Raiders knocked off the Sunny Hills Lady Lancers 43-38, Thursday night, to finish the regular season with an 8-2 record, and claim second place in the Freeway League.
Sonora’s only two losses in league play came against eventual league champion Troy.
The game started off slow, and neither team could buy a bucket. Sonora took a 3-0 lead into the end of the first quarter.
Action picked up in the second quarter, but both teams still were looking to get their offenses going. At the half, the Lady Raiders had a 17-8 lead, and Margo Campos lead all scorers with 6 first-half points. Despite their eight points, Sunny Hills did not make a field goal in the entire first half.
The Raider faithful played a big role in the second half, and really gave Sonora a home-court advantage.
“We love the fans,” said Coach Melissa Barajas. “I think they really helped carry us down the stretch when things were getting ugly.
Both teams came out in the second half much stronger, but Sunny Hills really narrowed down the lead. Justis Simpson had five of her 13 points in the quarter, and the deficit was trimmed to 27-26. Lauren Nakahara added seven points for the Lady Raiders in the quarter, and was the main reason that the game did not slip away.
There was a lot of back-and-forth basketball in the fourth, but Sonora never gave up the lead and held on down the stretch. The team was anchored by their strong defensive play.
Kylie Rodriguez had a countless number of steals and blocks in the game, and made her presence felt, despite only scoring 10 points.
It seemed like down the stretch, Sonora was the team that was able to make the big plays whenever they were needed. Avalon James had two huge three-point shots in the fourth, and Rodriguez uncharacteristically added another. Campos iced the game, making three out of four free throws in the closing seconds to tie her with Nakahara for the team lead with 12 points.
“We have grown a lot as a team,” said Campos. “We have been able to stay composed and we have matured.”
“Those were some crucial threes,” said James. “And Kylie nailed a big one for us too.”
“I think the girls, especially the seniors learned a lot from past games,” added Barajas. “They made huge plays down the stretch.”
Sonora will now gear up for the CIF playoffs, in which they are expected to have a fairly high seed.
“We should definitely be in the top four,” said Barajas, “But it doesn’t matter who you are playing. Every team brings it in the playoffs.”
“Going to playoffs, we’re stoked,” added Rodriguez, “We are so ready. There are going to be games just like tonight where they are going to be really close, but we are ready to take them on.”
“We’re going hard in the paint,” added James, “Ain’t nobody got time for losing.”

By Jeremiah Guirard
La Habra Journal

FULLERTON — Troy was unstoppable early and jumped out to a 7-0 lead after the first quarter on the way to drop the Sonora Lady Raiders 14-6,Thursday at Troy.

Mina Mattis and Grace Schade both had two goals in the first for the Warriors. Schade would add one more later, to tie her for the game high with three goals.

The Raiders (3-15, 1-6) were able to calm down and settle in a little bit after the first quarter. Sonora switched to a 2-3 zone defense to try to settle down the inside attack that accounted for the majority of Troy’s goals in the first quarter.

“They do have a strong set player,” said Sonora Head Coach Lauren Benson. “So we dropped back and forced them to take more outside shots, which are always tougher.”

Sonora Captain Briana Sussoev led the Raiders offensively with three goals, and one in each of the last three periods.
“We started to have fun and work together more,” Sussoev said. “And from there everything fell into place.”

At the end of the day, the Warriors, (19-8, 9-0), had too big of a lead early, and their balanced offensive attack was too much for the Sonora defense.

Along with Schade, Alison Lany and Christyne Eck had three goals each. Mattis and Alicia Tully added two goals apiece.

For Sonora, Colleen Jacobson, Emily Sonny, and Joyce Won had a goal each to bring the team total to 6.

Sonora still has two games left in the season. They face Sunny Hills next week and then crosstown rival La Habra.

“For the rest of the year, I just want us to work our hardest and have fun,” Sussoev said.

“We are definitely improving. The last time we played Troy the margin was a lot worse,” Benson added. “So I want to play competitively against Sunny Hills, and beat La Habra.”

By Nathan Percy
La Habra Journal

After battling Troy to a scoreless draw at halftime, the Sonora girls soccer team gave up a goal early in the second half and never recovered, falling 2-0 at Troy High, Thursday afternoon.

The Lady Warriors scored goals in the 43rd minute and in stoppage time in the second half and never allowed Sonora any major chances to score.

“We came out slow in the second half and conceded a goal in the first three minutes after we specifically talked about girls not diving in and being strong in the first 10 minutes,” said Alex Bengard, Sonora head coach. “When you go down 1-0 against a good team, that’s tough.”

Overcoming two injuries in the first half, Troy wasted little time in the second half as Caitlin Haugen centered a pass to Rachel Wix right in front of the goal.

Wix tapped it to the right of goalkeeper Cortney Coyle, who played the pass, giving Troy the 1-0 lead.

Troy’s second goal was scored one minute into stoppage time as the Lady Warriors crossed twice and missed a shot, but Morgan Zuker was there to put in the rebound as Coyle had no chance of recovering.

The win was bittersweet for Troy, which lost two forwards to injury in the first half to add to an already sizable list of sidelined players.

In the 13th minute, forward Bella Diaz was racing against Coyle to get to a loose ball. The two collided as Coyle went down to cover up, while Diaz stayed upright.

She had to be helped off the field with a right knee injury.

Later in the half, Coyle stepped in front of another ball as forward Kaycee Hoover was sliding in hopes of tapping in behind the keeper.

As she slid, her cleat got caught in the ground and she was helped off with an ankle injury.

In the second half, play was also delayed by three assessed yellow cards, two to Sonora and one to Troy.

Once again, the Lady Raiders defense turned away pressure throughout the first half as Coyle continued to play aggressive.

“We’ve seemed to be able to do that a lot this year,” Bengard said. “We’re good defensively, we just have trouble scoring goals. I’m not surprised, but we’re leaving empty-handed again.”

For Troy’s first goal, that aggressiveness came back to haunt the keeper, as it left Wix wide open.

Of Sonora’s few chances, a first-half free kick by Kristy Wickham was saved and a close range shot in the second half sailed over the crossbar.

The Lady Raiders will now have to pick up the offense against the toughest portion of its schedule if it wants a shot at the playoffs.

Sonora’s next opportunity to do that will be Tuesday at Sunny Hills.

“We have to pull out some wins if we want to see any action in the postseason,” Bengard said. “Hopefully the Sunny Hills game is better this time and we get the win we deserve and then we battle La Habra and they’re the only ones who really kicked our butts in the first half. It’s going to be a grind, but we’re up for the task.”

By Jeremiah Girard
La Habra Journal

The Lady Raiders dismantled the Buena Park Coyotes 66-13, on Wednesday, at Sonora, on Senior Night. Sonora’s offense really clicked and they put up their second highest point total of the season.

“The offense is really starting to click,” said coach Melissa Barajas, “We are really understanding what we need to do, and passing the ball really well.

“There was a lot of ball movement tonight,” said senior Margo Campos, “We made sure that we played inside then out.”

It was fitting that the Sonora offense was led by three seniors. Campos had 22 points, including two three pointers, Kylie Rodriguez added 17 points and Avalon James added 12 points.

“It feels great to have a game like this on Senior Night,” Campos added, “It really shows the work from Freshman year until now coming together.”

Buena Park’s game plan seemed to be to take Rodriguez out of the game. She was often double teamed, and there was even a triple team in there. It was obviously not enough.

In a game like tonight, where the Lady Raiders were dominating from the get go, coach Barajas wanted to make sure that her girls did not get complacent.

“We are constantly coaching them about staying disciplined,” Barajas said. “We are always our biggest opponent, we can never let up.”
The Sonora defense played exactly as Barajas expected, giving up only 13 points. They had the full court press going all game, and Buena Park had no answer. The Coyotes were forced to turn the ball over a countless amount of times throughout the game.

Dominique Neal was the one bright spot for Buena Park. She had 9 of the team’s 13 points.

With the loss, Buena Park falls to 1-13 (0-7). They will take on Troy Friday night at home.

Sonora improves to 17-3 (6-1). The Lady Raiders will take on Fullerton on Friday, at Fullerton, before playing Troy next Wednesday, in what very well could be the game that decides the Freeway League champion.

“I am really proud of our seniors,” Barajas said. “It is really easy to let our emotions get the best of us tonight, but they still went out and played really well.”