At Alemany, Wrestlers on Dawn Patrol

Like the Army, the Alemany High wrestling team does more before 9 a.m. than most people do all day.

After the Jan. 17 earthquake damaged much of the Alemany campus, Coach Dennis Henderson had to scramble to find a suitable site for practice and matches.

He found one 14 miles away.

A week after the earthquake, Henderson began holding practices in the old gym at Harvard-Westlake, where Alemany also holds dual meets.

Having a practice facility so far from school has its disadvantages. Because classes begin at 7:30 a.m., and Alemany has the use of the gym only in the early morning, practices start as early as 5 a.m.

“It’s probably been a mental toll more than a physical one,” Henderson said. After last week’s meet against St. John Bosco, Henderson gave his team a break from the early, early schedule.

Practice started at 5:30.

MISSION LEAGUE

Rigley Rises to Occasion Call her Miss Clutch.

When Samantha Rigley, Alemany’s best girls’ basketball player, steps to the free-throw line, Coach Melissa Hearlihy immediately thinks, “What are we going to do after we score two points?”

Rigley, a 5-9 junior forward, has made 86 of 110 free throws (78.2%). In crucial situations, she’s nearly automatic. In Alemany’s two games against league rival St. Bernard, Rigley made 13 of 14 the first time and 11 of 13 in the second game. Alemany won both games.

“My team has good foul shooters, and I have a lot of confidence in myself,” Rigley said. “I know teams don’t like to foul me at the end of the game.”

FRONTIER LEAGUE

The Streak Rolls On

With a 74-51 victory over Calabasas on Tuesday night, Santa Clara extended its league victory streak to 83. But the exceptional seems routine for the Saints, who are coached by Lou Cvijanovich for the 36th season.

Santa Clara has been challenged--the Saints had to work into overtime to beat Moorpark, 58-54, at home last week to keep the streak alive. But the Saints always answer.

“They scored the first basket of the overtime, and the team that does that really sets the tone and puts pressure on the opponent, for some reason,” Moorpark Coach Tim Bednar said. “Our guys were so focused on what they needed to do. But then we missed a short jumper and they just stepped up and hit the difficult shots in those situations. They just pour it on. They just do it when they need to.”

Said Santa Paula Coach Tom Donahue, whose team has lost, 58-48 and 42-35, to Santa Clara: “That’s how they’ve been winning. They’ve made runs. They’re very confident. They make plays when they need to make them, and you can’t get over the hump again.”

FOOTHILL LEAGUE

Hart-Canyon Redux

Hart’s basketball team is ranked No. 1 in the area by The Times, has a 20-1 record and leads the league with a 7-0 mark. But a loss in tonight’s game at Canyon could leave a bitter taste. That’s because Canyon (20-5, 6-1) would earn a share of the championship with a victory.

Hart Coach Mike May said it isn’t necessary to apprise his players of the situation.

“I think the kids know that,” he said. “They understand the nature of the rivalry. They understand the game.”

Canyon’s only loss in league play is a 52-26 defeat to Hart last month.

If the teams should share the championship, both would enter the playoffs as league champions albeit in different brackets. Hart plays in Division I, Canyon in Division II.

The Indians continue to rough it in the wake of the Jan. 17 earthquake. May commutes each day from Fontana because the house he’s buying in Valencia is damaged and has not cleared escrow. Hart held practice on an outdoor court Tuesday because it couldn’t find a gymnasium.

“It’s just another challenge,” May said. “Fortunately, the wind wasn’t too bad and it was sunny and clear.”

*

How important is one player--in this case Saugus point guard Jeff Rogers? Centurion Coach Eric Olsson thinks the absence of Rogers was the difference in a 35-34 setback to No. 1 Hart on Friday night.

Rogers has a spinal infection that will sideline him the rest of the season.

“We were without both our point guards in that game--that should tell you something,” Olsson said. “Rogers is very important to us. But the main thing is the doctors found out what was wrong with him. He had a high temperature and no feeling in his legs Friday, and nobody had a diagnosis.

“Now he seems to be improving, but he still can’t walk very well. It’s good to know he’s getting better.”

Saugus was upset Tuesday night by Burbank, 38-37, in a nonleague game between Foothill opponents.

PACIFIC LEAGUE

No Breaks

For the second consecutive season, Pacific League coaches can make a strong argument that from top to bottom, theirs is one of the toughest leagues in the Southern Section.

Heading into the final regular-season games tonight, four of six teams have 15 victories. Glendale has 19, while Crescenta Valley, Muir and Pasadena each has 15.

“The coaches in our league are the best coaches,” Hoover Coach Kirt Kohlmeier said. “I think our league is the strongest, top to bottom, in the (Southern Section).”

Last season, three teams made it to the semifinals in their respective divisions--Pasadena in I-A, Muir in II-A and Crescenta Valley in II-AA.

*

Glendale (19-6, 7-2) needs a victory against Crescenta Valley tonight to win at least a share of the league title. The Dynamiters are tied with Muir, which plays fifth-place Arcadia. If Glendale secures at least a piece of the title, it would be the first time since 1988, when Glendale won the championship, that a team other than Pasadena or Muir finished first.

Crescenta Valley (15-8, 5-4) needs a victory against Glendale to secure the final, automatic playoff spot in the league. Even with a loss, the Falcons are likely to receive an at-large berth.

MISSION LEAGUE

The Rich Get Richer?

Just when you thought it was safe to play for the Alemany boys’ basketball team. . . .

During practice at Woodbury College, one of the sites the Indians have found to replace their earthquake-damaged gym, the roof started leaking from the rain.

“The guys turned the floor into a slip-and-slide,” Coach Robert Webb said. “Got to keep them loose.”

HIGH DESERT LEAGUE

Foggy Crystal Ball

Back in November, Paraclete Coach Andy Gavel said his team was not only the favorite to win the league title, but would be one of the best Paraclete teams he has coached.

Today, the Spirits (9-12, 6-5) must beat league champion Desert to secure a playoff spot. If they lose, they could still advance to postseason play under a variety of complicated circumstances. Playoffs or not, this was not what Gavel expected.

“Heck,” Gavel said, “I’ve probably been wrong a lot more than I’ve been right. I really did think this was going to be a pretty good team. There’s a lot of frustration around here.”

CHANNEL LEAGUE

Battling Attrition

Joe Vaughan, Buena girls’ basketball coach, wasn’t laying it on thick--but his team was thin.

Because of injuries and illness, the Bulldogs (18-2 and ranked fourth in the state) had only six players in uniform at the beginning of last week, forcing Vaughan to call up a junior varsity player.

Gone from the lineup were Michelle Giordano (who suffered strained ligaments in her right knee Jan. 25) and Eboni Conley (sick). Plus, guard Stephanie Kinnear has been sidelined for over a month because of a dislocated kneecap, and two other players, Laura Dahl and Nicky Hannah, were recovering from illnesses.

The shorthanded Bulldogs were upset by archrival Ventura, 39-37, Saturday night.

The loss snapped Buena’s 52-game league winning streak, dating to 1991.

“Overall, I’m happy with our kids’ effort, considering all that happened,” Vaughan said. “It was a tough week.”

*

Giordano, an all-state selection last season who has signed to play for Arizona, returned to action Tuesday in the Bulldogs’ victory over Santa Barbara. It was her first game since injuring her knee Jan. 25.

EAST VALLEY LEAGUE

Improving Huskies

At this stage of the season, most improving basketball players increase their averages by a few tenths of a point. Not North Hollywood’s Damon Ollie and Fantasia Johnson.

Ollie, a 6-5 senior center, added 52 points, 42 rebounds and 15 blocked shots to his statistics. Ollie’s rebounding average jumped one full point to a region-leading 16.7. His scoring average improved nearly a full point to 20.4 points a game.

“He’s tremendous, what can I say?” North Hollywood Coach Steve Miller said. “He’s twice the player he was last year. He’s really demonstrating he can be a complete basketball player.”

Johnson, a 6-foot guard, had 25 assists last week to give him 125 in 16 games.

*

The Van Nuys boys’ basketball team has won only two of 17 games, but the Wolves’ work ethic hasn’t suffered. Their goal is the same, according to Coach Ken Lee: “To play every game as hard as we can.”

The Van Nuys gymnasium sustained damage in the earthquake, forcing the team to practice outside and play the rest of the season on the road.

Lee wanted to cancel the rest of the season, but the Wolves wouldn’t hear it.

“They just wanted to play,” Lee said. “They play their hearts out, that’s for sure. Most teams would have folded by now.”

DELPHIC LEAGUE

Reaching a Crossroads

This was supposed to be Campbell Hall’s season.

With four starters returning, including Alex Lopez, a 6-10 center headed for Washington, and with league power Crossroads appearing to be in a down year, Coach Jon Palarz thought 1994 would be a breakthrough year for the Vikings.

The season started well but in the last week, Campbell Hall (16-7, 4-3) saw its hopes for a Delphic League title slip away in two close losses to Crossroads, which has lost only one league game in three years.

Six missed free throws in one game and four turnovers in the final two minutes of the other led to 63-59 and 68-61 losses.

“We’re real disappointed,” Palarz said. “We had a shot to win both games. One was to the last possession, the other the last two minutes.”

Around the Leagues . . .

* North Hollywood’s Anna Celaya has scored 20 or more points in eight of her last nine games. The junior guard averages 21.1 points, 7.0 rebounds and 5.7 assists a game.

* The Newbury Park girls’ basketball team revolves around the balanced play of Jann Thorpe (8.8 points, 8.6 rebounds), Kara McKeown (8.7 points, 10.6 rebounds) and Julie Wastell (10.5 points, 5.0 assists).

* Burbank’s Isaiah Kearson is a 94% free-throw shooter (30 of 32) and has made 42.5% of his three-point shots (37 of 87).

* Glendale’s Tamar Iskander has 151 assists, one shy of second place on the school’s single-season list. Iskander set the single-game record of 15 this season.

Kennedy Cosgrove and staff writers Jeff Fletcher, Dana Haddad, Michael Lazarus and Paige A. Leech contributed to this notebook.