El Camino Real Puts Together a Surprise

El Camino Real has won or shared the last three West Valley League girls’ championships, but few gave the Conquistadores a shot at a fourth.

But they are 11-4 and play Taft (15-0) on Wednesday for sole possession of first place.

“A lot of people counted us out,” said Coach Lori Chandler, whose team lost All-Valley guard Christina Aguinaga and sophomore forward Cherhara Shields to transfers. Aguinaga is at Taft and Shields transferred to Oaks Christian.

“Now, we don’t rely on one specific outstanding player,” Chandler said. “But we have five, six, seven, eight players who can contribute.”

Senior Karen Shun, an all-league center, began the season as El Camino Real’s centerpiece, but several role players have stepped up.

Guard Victoria Wong hit two late free throws to seal a 68-63 victory over Saugus (17-2), ranked No. 5 in the region by The Times, on Dec. 26.

Last Friday, Aubree Smithey scored 16 points and Jennifer Goodman added 13 in a 52-50 victory over Chatsworth.

“It’s testimony to the kids’ character that we’re where we are right now,” Chandler said.

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Jessi Loring of Saugus has dedicated her season to her grandmother, Joy Loring, 76, who is battling ovarian cancer.

“I keep telling her, but she doesn’t believe me,” said Jessi, who is averaging 11.3 points and 6.3 rebounds to help Saugus (17-2, 4-0) challenge for its first Foothill League championship.

Because of recent chemotherapy sessions, Joy has been unable to watch her 6-2 sophomore granddaughter play in person.

But a local cable television station in Santa Clarita covered the Centurions’ 44-39 victory over defending Foothill League champion Valencia on Friday night, a game that decided first place. It will air Thursday.

“She’ll like that,” Jessi said.

Saugus leads second-place Valencia and Hart by one game in the league standings. The Centurions host Hart tonight.

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Buena’s 66-45 victory over Santa Barbara last Thursday was Coach Joe Vaughan’s 625th career victory, a state record. Dorothy Gaters of Chicago Marshall got her 700th career victory last week.

Buena (19-0) jumped from No. 3 to No. 1 last week in USA Today’s national rankings. Narbonne moved from No. 5 to No. 3. The teams meet in a nonleague game on Feb. 3 at Buena.

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Canoga Park earned a forfeit over Hollywood on Friday when the Sheiks didn’t have enough varsity players to field a team.

Hollywood (2-5, 1-3) had enough players for the junior varsity game but chose not to promote any to the varsity.