Schools
Local High School Basketball Teams Prepare for League Play
The Baldwin Park High School Braves' and the Sierra Vista Dons' basketball teams prepare to start league play next month against familiar opponents.
Basketball is one of those prep winter sports with a big audience and it is no different in Baldwin Park, where the home town and the have been playing tournaments in their respective leagues.
The Braves varsity teams are members of the Valle Vista League where they play rival schools such as Northview, Covina, San Dimas and Pomona.
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Sierra Vista’s varsity teams are members of the Montview League and their rival schools include Workman, La Puente and Azusa.
Baldwin Park’s boys basketball varsity team started out winning three of their first four games and have a 6-6 record as they prepare to begin league play this January, despite a loss to Arroyo on Friday. It has been a highly successful program throughout the years.
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“The basketball program over the last four years has been one of the best in the valley,” said head coach Marc Hart. "We won 16, 24 and 17 the last three years, two years ago we made the quarter finals, and all those years we’ve made the playoffs. So the basketball program is heading in the right direction."
Despite inexperience on the floor with only two returning players from last year’s team, Hart said he expects the to be a playoff team again, and to compete for the league championship.
Earlier this season, Baldwin Park had to make up games from a tournament they hosted with Sierra Vista, due to heavy Santa Ana wind damage, which postponed some of their games.
“Everybody else continued to play but we did not; we weren’t allowed to play,” said Hart.
Hart named seniors Drake Guillen and Alexis Baron among the team’s best players.
Sierra Vista’s varsity boys basketball team has not had as much success in the pre-season, having compiled a 3-5 record. But the team convincingly won two of its last three games over Salesian and Maywood Academy. The team is led by co-captains senior Rayshawn McCarthy and Andres Monteon.
Baldwin Park’s girls basketball varsity team, coached by Raquel Viramontes, has had a rough start to the season with a 1-7 overall record and back-to-back losses to Norwalk and Arroyo this week. But the team still has time to get on the winning track as it begins league play against Northview next month.
The Dons’ girls basketball team, coached by Israel Anguiano, has fared better with a 4-8 record heading into the Savanna Tournament in Westminster against La Quinta this week, prior to starting league play against Workman in the new year.