Pali High Boys Basketball Tops League

Heading down the homestretch of the regular season, the varsity boys basketball team is still right in the thick of the Western League race. With five games left the Dolphins find themselves in a three-way tie for first place alongside Fairfax and Westchester. 

Palisades (12-9 overall, 6-1 in league play) has bounced back nicely from its first league loss—a tough 64-61 setback at defending champion Westchester—with decisive victories over L.A. University and Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies. The Dolphins dealt Fairfax a 64-60 loss Jan. 13 and that, coupled with the Lions' 53-46 victory Wednesday at Westchester, has created a logjam at the top of the standings.

Having triumphed in eight of its last nine games, Palisades has three games next week—home to Venice on Monday, then on the road against Fairfax on Wednesday and at Hamilton on Friday—before wrapping up the schedule the next week with home games against Westchester and University.

Coach James Paleno has long dreaded Monday games because teams often are not sharp, but he had little to be concerned about last week when his Dolphins raced to a 33-18 halftime lead inside University's new gymnasium. The Wildcats crept to within eight points early in the fourth quarter but Palisades pulled away for a 65-51 victory behind 24 points and four steals from Donovan Johnson.

Brenden Otero added 21 points and nine rebounds and Tyler Hildreth had 12 points, nine rebounds and three steals while Ryan Ford had six assists and Tyler Duke had five for Palisades, which won the opening tip and scored on Johnson's layup just seconds into the game to take a lead that it never relinquished. Johnson's layup with 4:55 left in the first quarter increased the margin to 15-2. 

"Playing [Monday] is sort of a trap game because you don't have that day to practice so sometimes you play to the level of competition," said Paleno, whose team didn't have to contend with Uni's top scorer last year, David Nwaba said. "Yes, he graduated, but in some ways it's harder now because their scoring is more balanced. It's like us when Donovan was hurt [early in the season] and we had to rely on other guys."

Two days later, Palisades demolished LACES for the second time, winning 94-52 while outscoring the visiting Unicorns 31-15 in the first quarter and 27-9 in the second quarter.

Girls Basketball

The Dolphins extended their winning streak to eight games with league routs of University and LACES and control their own destiny in the Western League. They expected to get a strong test from Cerritos Whitney at Saturday's Muscle Milk Real Run—a one-day extravaganza pitting many of the top CIF Southern Section teams against the best of the City Section.

Skai Thompson led the Dolphins with 21 points and six steals and center Donae Moguel pitched in 20 points and eight rebounds in their 59-32 home win against University. On Wednesday, host LACES played Palisades tough over the first two quarters and trailed by only four points at halftime. In the second half, however, the Dolphins clamped down on defense and allowed only eight points en route to a 52-23 victory. Moguel finished with 20 points, 12 rebounds and five steals and Asia Smith added 10 points and seven rebounds in the win. 

Boys Soccer

The numbers tell how dominating Palisades has been in the Western League this season. In eight games, all victories, the Dolphins have outscored the opposition 36-2. Their only loss over the last month and a half was a 3-2 setback to Santa Monica in an intersectional contest Jan. 9.

Striker Kyle Warner leads the team with 11 goals while Ben Kim, Ben Sack and Marvin Lemus each have five. Goalie Brandon Newman has six shutouts and has made 48 saves. The Dolphins (10-3-1, 8-0) host Venice on Monday and travel to Fairfax next Wednesday.

Girls Soccer

The team continues to thrive under Coach David Matthews, who took over just three games into the season. Since then, the Dolphins have prevailed in eight of 11 contests, with all of their victories being shutouts. Despite a surprising 4-2 loss at Hamilton, the Dolphins lead the Western League race by half a game because the Yankees lost to LACES and tied University.

Palisades hosts the rematch with Hamilton on Feb. 8 at Stadium by the Sea and the outcome could determine the league title. Senior forward Katie van Daalen Wetters leads the Dolphins (10-4, 7-1) in goals (15) and assists (seven) while junior Avid Khorramian and freshman Annika Lundeberg have combined for 14 saves and nine shutouts.