Girls’ Basketball: Bruening sisters lead CdM past Newport Harbor

Counting girls’ basketball and volleyball, senior Natalia Bruening played in her eighth Battle of the Bay game for Corona del Mar High on Tuesday night.

Her younger sister Tatiana, a freshman, played in just her second.

“Tati” remembers the first, the JV girls’ volleyball match this past fall at Newport Harbor High. On Tuesday, she was back in the same gym, on varsity this time for girls’ hoops.

“I was way too nervous and I did not play well,” Tati Bruening said of the girls’ volleyball match. “I was still really nervous before this game, but I managed during warmups to turn that nervous energy into focus and get fired up.”

The two Bruening sisters combined in the post were too much for Newport Harbor.

Natalia scored a game-high 15 points and Tati added a season-high 11 off the bench as the Sea Kings cruised to their fifth straight Battle of the Bay victory, 48-26.

CdM Coach Mark Decker said his team still did start out nervous before the game. But the Sea Kings (11-3), ranked No. 2 in CIF Southern Section Division 3A, didn’t really show it.

They shut out the Sailors (3-10) in the first quarter and took a 15-0 lead. The lead was 17-0 before Newport Harbor’s Taylor Howard got the Sailors on the board, making a free throw with 7:21 left in the first half.

Newport Harbor made just two field goals in the first half, the second one coming on a second-quarter buzzer beater by senior guard McKenna Izzi after she got a steal at midcourt.

“Anything can happen,” said Natalia Bruening, who added 12 rebounds and two blocks. “In volleyball, we were the favorites and they still gave us a really good game. It’s unexpected, with the crowd and their energy and everything that’s going on. I thought we did a really good job of collecting ourselves though, focusing on our defense and limiting them.”

Senior point guard Kelly Tam added nine points for the winners, while Melody Yoo, Kat Hess and Tia Grippo scored four each. Hess also contributed with six rebounds, three blocked shots and four steals, the latter stat tying her for the team lead with Yoo.

CdM again held Newport Harbor scoreless in the third quarter. The Sea Kings opened up their biggest lead, at 40-10, on a three-pointer by Natalia Bruening late in the quarter.

“The first and third quarter I thought we had a lot of energy,” said Decker, whose team was outscored, 16-8, in the final frame. “Obviously our starters played pretty well, but we were definitely sloppy. I thought we were a little bit rushed in our offense. The girls came out pumped up ... we jumped out to that early lead and we got out of our game plan a little bit.”

Izzi led Newport Harbor with 14 points, and junior center Lisa Hamilton had five points to go along with 14 rebounds and three blocked shots.

“It’s hard to figure out how to play against them without getting fouls on you,” said Hamilton, who calls herself six feet tall “on a good day,” of going up against 6-4 Bruening and 6-2 Anderson. “All things considered, I thought it was a really good game.”

First-year Newport Harbor Coach Jillian Blackledge agreed. Freshman guard Lexi Alvarez, with four points and six steals, was another standout for the Sailors.

“She was going after everything,” Blackledge said. “We had a few problems during fall, preseason, with her getting into foul trouble. She’s starting to learn to be aggressive with not fouling. She creates a lot of chaos out there and makes people make mistakes when she’s on defense.”

Blackledge said her team was missing two starters. Alvarez’s older sister, Angelina, and Lexi Grantz were both still on vacation. She hopes to have both back for Thursday, when the Sailors open Sunset League play at home against Fountain Valley.

“I think we’ve got the momentum that we’ve been struggling to get in preseason,” Blackledge said. “I think we’re definitely going [into league] at our high point.”

Corona del Mar, meanwhile, plays at Woodbridge on Friday in its Pacific Coast League opener. The game is big, as the Sea Kings and Warriors shared the league title last year, just CdM’s second league title in program history.

Woodbridge is ranked No. 6 in Division 2AA.

“We jump right into it,” Decker said. “I think they are the favorites. I mean, they’re the highest-ranked team in our league and they’ve had some really quality wins. It’ll be a good test for us.”

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Battle of the Bay

Corona del Mar 48, Newport Harbor 26

SCORE BY QUARTERS

CdM 15 – 9 – 16 – 8 — 48

NH 0 – 10 – 0 – 16 — 26

CdM – N. Bruening 15, T. Bruening 11, Tam 9, Yoo 4, Grippo 4, Hess 4, Prow 1.

3-pt. goals – N. Bruening 1, Tam 1.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.

NH – Izzi 14, Hamilton 5, L. Alvarez 4, Satchell 2, Howard 1.

3-pt. goals – None.

Fouled out – Izzi, L. Alvarez.

Technicals – None.