The Los Alamitos girls basketball program officially kicked off its season in a “Tip Off” ceremony on Sunday, November 9, inside the sparkling new 34,000 square-foot Griffins Center as the varsity team aims for its fourth straight Sunset Conference championship.
Last season, the Sunset Conference returned girls basketball to its traditional one-league format by combining the Surf and Wave leagues into a larger, seven-team “Sunset League,” and the 2024-25 Griffins (19-10 overall) shared the first championship in the newly configured league with Fountain Valley and Corona del Mar, each school finishing league play with identical 9-3 records.
In 2023-24, the Griffins won the Surf League championship outright with a dominating 6-0 league record (24-6 overall) and in 2022-23, the Griffins (20-10 overall) were co-champions with Corona del Mar, each finishing 5-1 in Surf League play. The Surf league featured the four higher-rated teams in the Sunset Conference.
Although the Griffins graduated inspirational rebounding phenom Bryn Pagett (11.5 rebounds per game), this year’s team returns key starters and rotational players, starting with senior guard Tam Yoshida, who was last season’s Sunset League Co-MVP, and senior guard Maya Asumbrado, who was First-Team All-Sunset League.
Last season, these two sharpshooting guards averaged a combined 27 points a game, with Yoshida averaging 14.8 points and Asumbrado averaging 12.4 points. They also hit a combined 135 three-point shots, with Asumbrado making 73 threes and Yoshida hitting 62 threes.
Also returning are three key sophomore players, guard Maile Heng, forward Torri Yoshida, and guard Sydney Asumbrado, who are expected to have major roles in the Griffins pressing defense and fast-break offense.
The Griffins also return senior outside shooters Lexi Kyriakos and Madison Norberg.
New to the varsity team this year are senior post player Morgan Oropeza, junior forward Danira Jones, freshman post Amber Cosio, freshman guard Libby Lee, and freshman center Helen Fabian.
“We are eager for the season to start,” said Coach Maya De Anda. “We have a competitive mix of girls, and I love that on any given night any group of girls can go out there and score.”
The three-hour “Tip Off” ceremony featured players, relatives, and friends of all three teams: Frosh-Soph, Junior Varsity, and Varsity. It included free-throw contests, shooting drills, video presentations of all the teams in action, individual presentations of each player, and a catered lunch after the festivities. The new Griffin Center features a three-court gymnasium with 2,000-seat retractable bleachers, four team rooms, and a dedicated weight training suite.
The varsity team’s first home game inside the new center will be on Dec. 2, at 5:30 p.m. versus Anaheim High. The Griffins first away game of the new season will be on November 24 versus West Covina at 5:30 p.m. at Corona del Mar High.