O.C. PRESEASON TOP 10

1. Mater Dei: The Trinity League juggernaut didn’t lose to a county foe last season and will again be tough to beat. Reigning county player of the year Addison Deal returns as a versatile guard (15 ppg) while Duke commit Jenessa Cotton provides the inside muscle (12.4 ppg, 6.1 reb.). The Monarchs round out their starting lineup with Amaya Williams, Kaeli Wynn and Devyn Kiernan, the daughter of coach Kevin Kiernan. Depth has been a strength but the Monarchs’ roster doesn’t appear to be as deep as last season.

2. Sage Hill: It’s the final, united run for five products of Kobe Bryant’s Mambas travel team. Emily Eadie, Kat Righeimer, Zoie Lamkin and Annabelle Spotts are seniors while Amalia Holguin is a sophomore. Eadie, Righeimer and Spotts have committed to Princeton, Northwestern and Chicago, respectively. The defending Pacific Coast League champion figures to have strong chemistry, and improved depth. Senior Aurora Elder, a 6-foot-3 post, arrived from Riverside Poly. The unit will also lean on freshman Kamdyn Klamberg and sophomore Alyssa Cuff.

3. Orange Lutheran: The reigning CIF-SS Division 1 champion will mix several returners with some newcomers. The backcourt duo of Shea Joko and Kelly Garrity returns along with versatile guard/forward Princess Cassell and post Sheridan Kennedy. Joko, the Division 1 player of the year last season, will be joined by her freshman sister Lexi. Orange Lutheran lost post Taliyah McFerson, who transferred to Lynwood, but added three transfers, including post Emalynn Vong from Orangewood Academy.

4. Rosary: The Division 1 semifinalist from last season will team Loyola Marymount-committed guard Allison Clarke with an array of intriguing transfers and freshmen. Clarke, a first-team All-County selection, joins forces with Troy transfer Kayla Borgelt, a third-team All-County selection. The newcomers include twins Calista and Mikayla Purwadi from Indonesia and point guard Rihanna Meaders.

5. Buena Park: The Coyotes, the Division 4AA runner-up last season, return three of their four top sophomores in Alana White, Bella Harmon and Ava Wiley, daughter of coach DeAnthony Wiley. They also added three transfers in All-County forward Mya Barnes of Rosary, forward Gloria Barrera of St. Paul and guard Hannah Fuentes of Orangewood Academy. The squad lost speedy point guard Sydnie Lendsey to a transfer to Santa Margarita.

6. San Juan Hills: The reigning South Coast League champion remains formidable with the return of All-County selections Anna Shreeve and Aryanna Hudson, along with well-rounded Sydney Peterson. Hudson committed to Vanguard. The Stallions added Trabuco Hills transfer sophomore Olivia Morgan but still face a void after graduating All-County guard Amanda Edwards, now at Weber State.

7. Fairmont Prep: The Huskies and first-year coach Josh Lozano are on the rise. Their returning core is led by improving sophomore point guard Adyra Rajan, a third-team All-County pick. They also have added 6-foot-2 post Sarah Aldeguer, who has played for the French 15-and-under national team. Long Beach Poly transfer post Lesina Afu will join the mix after the sitout period.

8. Esperanza: The undersized Aztecs are retooling after graduating All-County guard Kaiya Mack, now at Cal Lutheran. Sophomore guard Madi Lam is the top returner and coming off a stellar flag football season playing under Jimmy Valverde, also the Aztecs’ basketball coach. The Crestview League champion also returns sharp-shooter Charlotte Muller.

9. Orangewood Academy: The San Joaquin League contender will blend its returners and with some intriguing newcomers. All-County forward Maria Mejia leads the group of returners that includes point Vicky Om, who missed last season with a knee injury. The squad added international players in Ndeye Astou Ndiaye, a 6-foot junior, and Vivian Grenald, a 6-foot-1 freshman.

10. Portola: The Pacific Coast League runner-up from last season begins the post-Moka Saika era by returning four starters. The key player is point guard Kira Watanabe, who continues to raise her game. The senior will lead one of the fastest squads in the county.

Also considered: Brea Olinda, Crean Lutheran, San Clemente, Sonora, Woodbridge

TOP 10 PLAYERS TO WATCH

Princess Cassell, Orange Lutheran, Sr., G

The well-rounded Cassell is generating Division I college interest with her ability to sink 3-pointers, attack the basket and play active defense. She earned third-team All-County honors last season.

Allison Clarke, Rosary, Sr., G

The Loyola Marymount commit averaged 19.5 points and 2.6 steals last season en route to first-team All-County honors. She scored at least 30 points five times during the regular season.

Jenessa Cotton, Mater Dei, Sr., F

The Duke commit combines excellent shooting touch from the perimeter with the ability score inside and rebound. The 6-foot-3 Cotton has the talent to contend for county player of the year.

Addison Deal, Mater Dei, Jr., G

The reigning O.C. player of the year is coming off a strong summer in which her offensive arsenal continued to evolve. The 6-foot Deal is the No. 1-ranked junior in California, and No. 12 in the nation, according to HoopGurlz Recruiting.

Emily Eadie, Sage Hill, Sr., F

The Princeton commit is one of the county’s most complete players. She led the Lightning last season in scoring (15.2 ppg), rebounding (11.2) and assists (3.0) en route to first-team All-County honors.

Amalia Holguin, Sage Hill, So., G

The freshman burst onto the scene last season by averaging 14.4 points — on 35 percent shooting from beyond the 3-point line — and 2.6 steals. Be ready for an encore.

Shea Joko, Orange Lutheran, Sr., G

The reigning Division 1 player of the year proved herself last season with clutch performances in the playoffs. She’s a gifted shooter but watch for her passing and defense, too.

Kat Righeimer, Sage Hill, Sr., F

The Northwestern commit has improved each season so expect the versatile senior to build off her averages last winter of 11.8 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists.

Anna Shreeve, San Juan Hills, Jr., F

The athletic junior continued her rise last season by leading the South Coast League champion in scoring (14.9), rebounds (7.6) and steals (3.0).

Amaya Williams, Mater Dei, Jr., G

The 5-foot-10 guard has made a “huge jump”, Monarchs coach Kevin Kiernan said, and holds about 15 Division I-level college offers.

Please send girls basketball news to Dan Albano at dalbano@scng.com or @ocvarsityguy

Mater Dei’s girls basketball team knows the challenges on the horizon.

There’s reigning state champion Etiwanda, which beat the Monarchs 71-58 in the CIF-SS Open Division semifinals last season.

There’s Sierra Canyon, which defeated Mater Dei 59-47 in the SoCal Open Regional semifinals and has since added touted transfer guard Jerzy Robinson.

And closer to home, there’s Sage Hill, which returns its starting five and added a key transfer.

So where does this leave Mater Dei?

“We’ve got a shot,” said coach Kevin Kiernan, who enters his 17th season leading the Monarchs. “Anything can happen.”

Mater Dei, No. 1 in the Orange County preseason rankings, will lean on top returners Addison Deal and Jenessa Cotton, who recently committed to Duke.

The Monarchs’ mix also features sophomore sharp-shooter Kaeli Wynn, improved guards Amaya Williams and Devyn Kiernan and Emily Shaw.

“I think we’re going to be pretty good,” Kiernan said. “We’ll play three point guards: Addie, Devyn and Amaya.”

One development to watch is the addition of Wynn’s mother, Jody, as an assistant coach. The former University of Washington and Long Beach State women’s basketball coach has been working on retooling Mater Dei’s offense, Kiernan said.

“We are very fortunate to have her on staff this year,” he said of Wynn, who starred at Brea Olinda before playing at USC.

“(We) want to promote great spacing and more ball movement and depend on reads instead of set plays. (The) last few years, we could always let (point guard) Caia (Elisaldez) loose. (We’re a) different team with a good mix of length, speed and shooting.”

Mater Dei could face Sage Hill in the Troy Classic, which begins Dec. 4, and Etiwanda in the Nike Holiday Classic in Portland, Ore., Dec. 28-30.

“I think they have the best returners in Orange County,” Kiernan said of Sage Hill. “(Etiwanda) is a super-team.”

SANTA ANA STEPPING UP

Mater Dei opens its season Nov. 22 against visiting Santa Ana, a Division 5AA team which approached the Monarchs about the nonleague game.

“To be better, you have to play the best,” Saints coach Calvin Barnes said. “I wanted (my players) to be exposed to the (high-level) game and to go back home and hopefully learn and have the want to be that great because at the end of the day, we won’t be playing those types of teams.”

NOTES

San Clemente All-County forward Zona Miller suffered a knee injury playing soccer in May and is not expected to play this season, Tritons coach Kerri Husbands said. “She is competing in rehab like she competes on the court,” Husbands added. …

Brea Olinda point guard Sarah Wong (shoulder) will miss the season, Ladycats coach Craig Matthews said. …

Buena Park, San Juan Hills and Fairmont Prep — all ranked in the county preseason Top 10 — will play in the Oxford Academy tournament that starts Monday. The tournament field includes Brea Olinda and Troy. …

Josh Lozano is the new coach at Fairmont Prep. He replaced Sara Brown, who is now at Canyon.

But Collier, in all likelihood, is destined for the draft after one season with the Trojans. And on Friday night, USC locked its future future backcourt into place.

Trent Perry, a 6-foot-4 combo guard coming off a run leading a talented Harvard-Westlake squad to a CIF Open Division state championship, announced his commitment to USC on Friday night on social media. It’s another massive recruiting win for Coach Andy Enfield, who brought in Collier and Sierra Canyon’s Bronny James as part of a loaded 2023 class and now strikes big with Perry in 2024.

“He felt at home with the staff and school,” David Rebibo, Perry’s coach at Harvard-Westlake, wrote in a text.

Perry’s the ideal modern combo guard for Enfield. He’s mature beyond his years and plays with the innate pace of a conductor, if the conductor could also take off from a few steps inside the arc and flip a legs-splayed layup around the outstretched arms of opposing big men. He’d be a ready-made fit next to Bronny James if James were to stay at USC for a sophomore season – James’ recovery from cardiac arrest leading to a range of possibilities as to his future with the Trojans – and if James moves on, Perry is a foundational piece capable of running the point or playing off the ball.

“Coach Enfield plays an uptempo style and gives his guards freedom to play,” Rebibo wrote, when asked how he envisioned Perry fitting into Enfield’s system.

Perry’s shot selection can occasionally waver, firing off a pull-up 3-point attempt here and there when a better look might have come later in the shot clock in games during his junior year, but that’s more than offset by his court vision and versatility on defense. Watch his patience here in commanding a fast break, drawing the eyes of the low-man just long enough to dink teammate Jacob Huggins for a dunk:

Trent Perry finds Jacob Huggins and Harvard-Westlake is up 27-9 over De La Salle. Mick Cronin watching here at Mater Dei. pic.twitter.com/Gssxy9zC6M

— Luca Evans (@bylucaevans) January 29, 2023

He’s got plenty of shot-making moxie and the ability to push tempo, too, as evidenced in the first clip of this highlight by Ballislife, an end-of-quarter 3-pointer over double-coverage in a game against Sierra Canyon last year:

From watching him orchestrate Harvard-Westlake’s offense at one of the highest levels of high school basketball in the country, it’s easy to see Perry eventually stepping into a Drew Peterson-esque role at USC, a versatile guard with size who is as capable of threading a pick-and-roll needle as he is bumping a defender off for a smooth midrange jumper.

Perry, too, is a born leader, the focal point of excellent chemistry in Harvard-Westlake’s core, in constant communication and encouragement with teammates like now-graduated forward Brady Dunlap.

“Constantly seeking ways to improve his game, how he approached the game, film study, nutrition, and the weight room,” Rebibo texted. “An incredibly motivated young man who loves the process of getting better.”

It would be better for all, especially the athletes’ parents, to be certain that the trainer has the certified qualifications to render that assistance.

California Assembly Bill 796 is making its way through the portals of state legislature. The bill would require that anyone who works as a high school sports athletic trainer is registered with the state as a trainer after having been certified by the National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA).

CIF Southern Section commissioner Mike West started his work in high school sports as an athletic trainer at Ayala High School in 1994 and would become president of the California Athletic Trainers Association. He has plenty of interest and expertise in the field of athletic trainers.

West said the bill would ensure that high school sports athletic trainers are qualified to care for injured athletes, in games and matches and at practices.

“This would enable us to regulate the profession of athletic trainers,” said West, in his first year as CIF-SS commissioner. “The certified athletic trainer who is certified by the NATA would have to register in the state so we know who they are. You couldn’t call yourself an athletic trainer and provide athletic training services.”

Several Orange County school districts require that only certified trainers can work as trainers at their contests. Anaheim Union High School District and the Santa Ana Unified School District are among them.

Dr. Mike Shepard is an orthopaedic surgeon at the Orthopaedic Specialty Institute and serves as the team doctor for Servite. He has also served in that role for UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton and the Angels. He is an advocate for getting certified trainers at high school sporting events.

“California is the only state that does not certify athletic trainers,” Shepard said. “The idea of making certified athletic trainers more of a mainstream thing to have on campus is a good thing. With the emphasis on athletics at our schools, safety should be emphasized for school athletics.”

Athletic trainers have saved lives. Making sure that all high school athletic trainers have the qualifications required to take care of athletes is something everyone should support.

NOTES

• St. John Bosco football coach Jason Negro publicy is using the “nobody believes we can win” stuff so of course he has been telling that to Braves players all week leading to Friday’s game against Mater Dei at St. John Bosco’s Panish Family Stadium. …

• The game sold out in three minutes after tickets went on sale Monday. Capacity at Panish is 5,000. Bally West SoCal will televise the game live, and the NFHS Network will live stream the game. …

• West said he will attend Friday’s high school football game at SoFi Stadium, where Downey plays against Warren. That stadium, home of the Chargers and Rams, is not a site for any of this year’s CIF-SS football championship games. It might be in future seasons if a rental fee and associated costs are acceptable to the CIF-SS group. …

• The Orange County Cross Country Championships are Friday and Saturday at Oak Canyon Park in Silverado. Dana Hills’ boys team is ranked No. 1 in the country by PrepCalTrack.com. The Dolphins, who have the county’s top runner in junior Evan Noonan, is the favorite to win the boys team championship, but they could get a good challenge from San Clemente and its top runner, senior Brett Ephraim. …

• Noonan finished third last week in the Clovis Invitational that was run at Woodward Park, which is also the site for the CIF State finals on Nov. 23. JSerra’s girls team was the Clovis Invitational team champion, led by Sophie Polay’s 10th-place finish. JSerra’s Kayla Tasser finished 12th. JSerra’s incredibly deep girls team should win the girls team title at the O.C. Championships by a large margin.

• Trabuco Hills junior Holly Barker is the one to beat in the girls competition at the Orange County Championships. Barker likes the progress of her season that includes winning the Central Park Invitational on Sept. 30 and is looking forward to this weekend’s race. “I just want to go out with confidence and carry out the pace that I know I’m capable of,” she said. …

• Senior Vyctorious Miller has returned to the Crean Lutheran boys basketball team. He was All-Orange County first team as a sophomore at Crean Lutheran during the 2021-22 season, when he averaged 20 points a game. Miller, who was at Compass High in Arizona last school year, will be a candidate for county player of the year. …

• Mater Dei’s boys basketball team will play St. John Bosco at Crypto.com Arena, home of the Lakers and Clippers, as part of the six-game Coastal Catholic Classic on Jan. 6. That will add a new entry to the list of Southern California arenas where Mater Dei’s Gary McKnight has coached. The list includes the Forum, Los Angeles Sports Arena, Honda Center, Pauley Pavilion, Anaheim Convention Center and Galen Center. …

• Among the new rules in place for the 2024 baseball season: Electronic communication devices are permissible from the dugout to the catcher while the team is on defense for the purpose of calling pitches.

Several of Orange County’s best girls basketball teams are participating in the preseason H.O.P.E. Showcase this weekend at Cypress College.

The fifth-year event runs Friday through Sunday, and includes Buena Park, Canyon, Crean Lutheran, Mater Dei, Orangewood Academy, Portola, Rosary, Sage Hill, San Clemente, San Juan Hills, Santa Margarita, Sonora, Troy and Villa Park.

The showcase also features top non-county teams such as reigning CIF State Open Division champion Etiwanda, Ontario Christian, Santiago of Corona, Bishop Montgomery, La Jolla Country Day, Cathedral Catholic along with well-known squads from Nevada and Northern California.

Some of the intriguing matchups:

San Juan Hills-Ontario Christian on Friday at 7 p.m.

Buena Park-Etiwanda on Saturday at 5 p.m.

Orangewood Academy-La Country Day on Sunday at 4 p.m.

The games begin Friday at 4 p.m. and run through two Sunday games at 9 p.m. Most county teams are playing two games.

Please send girls basketball news to Dan Albano at dalbano@scng.com or @ocvarsityguy on X and Instagram

Several more high-profile transfers have occurred in Orange County girls basketball.

Twins Jasmine and Justine Prajitno have left Brea Olinda and enrolled at Canyon, new Comanches coach Sara Brown confirmed Wednesday.

The 5-foot-7 seniors can play both of the guard positions, said Brown, the former Fairmont Prep coach.

Santa Margarita recently confirmed that Buena Park point guard Sydnie Lendsey enrolled at the Trinity League school. The speedy sophomore helped the Coyotes finish as the CIF-SS Division 4AA runner-up last season.

Lendsey was selected fourth-team All-County.

Earlier this month, Rosary coach Rich Yoon confirmed that high-scoring guard Kayla Borgelt arrived from Troy.

The senior led the Warriors in scoring last season with an 18.0 average and was selected third-team All-County.

In June, Buena Park confirmed it received three transfers.

They were: All-County forward Mya Barnes of Rosary, forward Gloria Barrera of St. Paul and guard Hannah Fuentes of Orangewood Academy.

Please send girls basketball news to Dan Albano at dalbano@scng.com or @ocvarsityguy

Bryce James, the youngest son of Lakers star LeBron James, has enrolled at Notre Dame High of Sherman Oaks according to reports and will be joining a team that won its first CIF State title a year ago.

The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday night that Notre Dame basketball coach Matt Sargeant confirmed that James had enrolled at the school and practiced with the team Wednesday.

It is the second transfer James has made since the 2022-23 season ended in February.

The 6-foot-6 shooting guard and three-star recruit is entering his junior year, but he will likely have to miss part of the 2023-24 season because of the sit-out period for transfers.

James seemed to confirm the reports with a post on a social media account Wednesday night that showed him in a Notre Dame uniform along with the words, “Let’s get it.”

Notre Dame won the CIF State Division I title last season.

James, who turned 16 in June, spent the past two basketball seasons at Sierra Canyon, where he played alongside his brother Bronny James, but Bryce transferred to Campbell Hall during the spring. He played in a tournament with Campbell Hall during the summer.

There were rumors weeks ago, though, that Bryce James wound end up at Notre Dame for the upcoming school year despite the strong connections that the James family has developed with the Campbell Hall program and the school hiring a new coach, David Grace, who is a former assistant at UCLA.

Last season, James played in 12 games for Sierra Canyon’s varsity team and averaged 3.8 points per game.

James joins a Notre Dame team that returns Mercy Miller, who is a Houston commit and son of rapper Master P, junior Lino Mark and sophomore Zach White.

There was too much of that in the 2022-23 high school sports year to recite here.

Let’s take a look back at some of it, with a look ahead to the 2023-24 sports year …

Greatness and surprises started in the fall with Bruce Rollinson’s decision to make last season his final one as Mater Dei’s football coach. Only weeks after Rollinson said he would be back in 2023, he announced that ‘22 would be the end – that’s the surprise. The greatness is all of the championships and big-game success that populated his 34 seasons, plus being a kind and patient guy to work with. …

Patient and kind applies also to Rob Wigod, who concluded his tenure as the CIF Southern Section commissioner. He moved the section forward in every category – competitive equity, financial stability, quality of playoffs and much more, and he even calmed the animosity public schools often have for private schools. …

Wigod’s replacement, Mike West, who has been principal at ML King in Riverside and has been in various CIF-SS and CIF State positions, is a fine choice. …

Something that West and CIF State leadership, and California legislators, too, are going to have to deal with is transgender athletes. A few participated in high school sports this past school year, mostly in cross country and track. People like simple solutions to complicated problems, but that approach likely won’t work on this issue….

Frank McManus replaced Rollinson as Mater Dei’s football coach. A longtime assistant coach with the program, McManus was a great choice. The players love him, and he already got a major win by keeping ace defensive coordinator Eric Johnson on the staff. …

Another interesting football hire is Kyle Murphy at Pacifica. Murphy, who was an excellent assistant coach at Edison, long has been head coach material but was waiting for the right time and the right situation. He will make Pacifica a CIF championship contender soon. …

Other football coaching moves of interest: Dan O’Shea leaving Corona del Mar’s coaching position to become head coach at St. Margaret’s; the hiring of former Azusa Pacific University coach Victor Santa Cruz at JSerra; Servite hiring Friars alum Chris Reinert to replace Troy Thomas who was inexplicably released; and Charlie TeGantvoort leaving Santa Ana to take the Marina position. …

We’re not going to see the results of that Mater Dei sports department review that was supposed to be available last June, are we? …

A look at Major League Baseball rosters shows how good Orange County high schools are in that sport. Aquatics are similarly strong in Orange County. The sport that county high schools might be best at, though, is boys and girls volleyball where the quality of play is stunning and massively entertaining. …

Another exciting sport, and a relatively new one, is lacrosse. It is fast and physical and requires stamina and terrific hand–eye coordination. Boys and girls lacrosse is growing fast, too. …

Choosing the best game of the year is too difficult. An outstanding candidate came just a few weeks ago: JSerra 1, Santa Margarita 0 in eight innings in the CIF-SS Division 1 baseball championship game. The play was pristine, the atmosphere electric. …

Another candidate was Canyon’s 58-56 win over JSerra in a CIF-SS Division 1 quarterfinal. Canyon sophomore Brandon Benjamin’s will power led to a putback at the buzzer for the winning basket. …

It’s rare that a sport’s athlete of the year transfers, but that happened this past school year. Benjamin, the Orange County boys basketball player of the year, left Canyon to enroll at Mater Dei. He will be a junior this coming school year.. …

Never give up. Aliso Niguel’s baseball team started the season 1-7. The Wolverines won the CIF-SS Division 3 championship. …

Matt Morrell of Cypress is the Orange County Boys Athlete of the Year and Jake Stafford of JSerra is the O.C. Boys Competitor of the Year. A candidate for both awards was Northwood’s Adam Harper, a classic, old-school, quick-and-tough running back who also was All-CIF in baseball. …

The two most dominant individual athletes of 2022-23 were Fountain Valley wrestler TJ McDonnell and Santa Margarita swimmer Teagan O’Dell. McDonnell was the CIF-SS and CIF State champion at 182 pounds. O’Dell, the Orange County Girls Athlete of the Year, set the national record in the 200 individual medley and broke four Orange County records and three state records. …

The 2023-24 high school sports year is the final one with current league structures in Orange County. For the 2024-25 school year county football teams — except those in the Trinity League — will be grouped into leagues according to their performance the previous two seasons, so we could see something like Mission Viejo and Los Alamitos in the same league. For other sports, conferences will be in place that will create leagues like we have never seen before. …

Girls volleyball is the first sport that can play matches this coming school year, with Aug. 12 as opening day. Football teams can play their first games Aug. 18. …

That gets us to an early Orange County 2023 football preseason Top 10 to finish this thing: 1. Mater Dei; 2. Orange Lutheran; 3. Los Alamitos; 4. Mission Viejo; 5. JSerra; 6. Edison; 7. Yorba Linda; 8. Santa Margarita; 9. Cypress; 10. San Clemente. Others considered were … well, for that you’re going to have to wait for our 2023 football preseason Top 25 in early August.

The three-day tournament includes 163 teams, many of which are Orange County teams. The games are being played at various central county and south county schools.

The event is organized and managed by the Southern California Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association.

The teams are divided into several divisions. The divisions and the schedules can be found at this link.

Daily admission to the tournament is $10. Many of the schools will charge $10 for parking.