NHS cagers finish summer season in third

Nordhoff High School's girls' basketball program completed its summer season last week.

Thirty-five girls participated during the seven-week session that is intended to give players an opportunity to work on their individual games as well as introduce new players to the program.

Coach Ted Cotti's varsity team competed in the Nordhoff and Dos Pueblos summer leagues and traveled to tournaments at U.C. Irvine and Righetti in Santa Maria. The team finished the summer with a record of 21-14, placing ninth out of 32 teams at Irvine and sixth out of 16 teams at Righetti.

Having graduated only one player from last year's squad, competition for playing time was expected to be fierce, but All-CIF senior center Alison Bennett spent much of the summer playing for her club team, and a back injury sidelined junior forward Tahnie Benitez. That offered an opportunity for freshmen Megan Swann and Sarah Bledsoe, junior Danielle Rothfuss and sophomore Maegan Bunker to show that they, too, may be ready to contribute on the varsity level.

"We had another productive summer," said Cotti, beginning his seventh term as varsity head coach. "I am excited to see so many freshmen out for the program and am pleased with the progress we made on the varsity level - especially considering that we didn't have access to our gymnasium the entire summer."

"I am particularly proud of the hard work and commitment demonstrated by some of the returners, including senior Alexis Kenyon, juniors Sarah Nylander and Sasha O'Brien and sophomore Ariane Roach. Kenyon and Nylander really made huge strides and distinguished themselves as team leaders during the course of the summer," Cotti continued. "I am fortunate to have a group of girls who love the game, who complement each other on the court, who enjoy each other's company off the court and who are willing to work hard in the off-season."

Mike Barrett coached the junior varsity squad, which competed in both the Nordhoff and Westlake summer leagues as well as in the NHS/Santa Paula End of Summer Tournament, where they placed fourth.

2003 Monday Summer Girls' Basketball League at Nordhoff
Final Standings
Varsity
Ventura 11-1
Oxnard 9-3
Nordhoff 8-4
Santa Paula 8-4
St. Bonaventure 2-2
Santa Ynez 2-2
Carpinteria 1-3
Channel Islands 1-3
Pacifica 0-4
Santa Clara 0-4
Calabasas 0-4
Junior Varsity
Oxnard 10-2
St. Bonaventure 9-3
Channel Islands 9-3
Dos Pueblos 2-2
Nordhoff 4-6
Westlake 1-3
Villanova 1-9
Bishop Diego 0-4

© 2003 The Ojai Valley News

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