Lady Saints Have a Busy, Productive Summer
The summer of 2007 was very productive for the St. Anthony Girls’ Varsity Basketball Program. Our summer started at the 40th annual LA Watts Summer Games. The freshman joined us at the USC Team Camp at brand new Galen Center on the campus of the University of Southern California. The girls also played at Mater Dei in their brand new multi-million dollar facility at the inaugural Mater Dei Firecracker Tournament in early July.
In all the girls’ played in 35 games all over Southern California. Some notable quality wins came against Brethren Christian twice. We also beat St. Joseph at the Run & Gun League. We beat King-Drew twice after losing to them at the Watts Summer Games. Our biggest win came against Fowler High School from Fresno, California in the Nike Grand Finale. We also beat a division opponent Sage Hill at the Liberty Christian Tournament.
In addition to these games we also played powerhouse programs like Long Beach Poly, Redondo Union, North Torrance, Esparanza, Riverside Poly, Mater Dei, Palmdale, LA Jordan and Paramount. We also played against KOFA High School from Arizona and Mid Pacific Elite a travel team from Hawaii.
The Lady Saints are coming off a great year after posting an 18-9 record and qualifying for the CIF Playoffs in 2006-2007. We lost April Laughlin and Karina Valiente to graduation that is the bad news; the good news is everyone else is back. Led by sophomore captain Talor Hixon, 1st Team All CIF and 1st Team All League, and junior Brittney Bramlett, 2nd Team All CIF and 2nd Team All League, this season promises to be very exciting. Joining Hixon and Bramlett are captains and seniors Nancy Valiente and Gabby Duarte, three-year letterman Elyssa Schmidt and returning starter Brittnay Quiette. Two-year letterman Giavanna Ruff joins Brittney Bramlett as our only juniors. Ryan Delaney who is our most improved player this summer joins Briana Panaguiton, MVP of the JV team last season and Talor Hixon to form a strong sophomore class. Last but not least are the “Baby Saints”. The freshman class is made up of 5 J’s and 1 L and they give us so much to look forward to over the next four years. Jasmine Balangue, Jenna Garcia, Jorie Williams, Josie Guanzon, Julie Lopez and Lauren Siaumau are great additions to the “Purple Nation”.
Be sure to plan on checking out “The Secretaries of Defense” by coming out to the Jack Errion Memorial Gymnasium for one of our 11 home games next season. Our first home game is November 28, 2007 against the Chadwick at the 64th St. Anthony Classic. We open Santa Cruz League play at home against St. Genevieve on January 10, 2008. We also play two games against long time rivals St. Matthias on January 15, 2008 and Mary Star on January 24, 2008. We play the 2007 CIF Division IVAA Champion St. Mary’s on February 5, 2008. Come on out and throw a fit in “The Pit”.
Support the team by purchasing a Business Card Ad in the 2007-2008 Girls’ Basketball Program. For more details contact Glen Siaumau at 562-999-6347.