Lightning strikes Academy League

Barry Faulkner

Sage Hill School boys basketball coach Steve Keith caught himself

after Wednesday’s nonleague victory over Fairmont, when asked to

confirm his team’s record.

“We’re 5-8,” he said, before quickly adding, “Or, I guess, we’re

0-0.”

The Lightning boys, as their first-year coach was happy to point

out, open Academy League play tonight at 7:30 against visiting

Brethren Christian with a clean slate. Sage Hill missed the CIF

Southern Section Playoffs last season, its first as a varsity team,

when it lost a third-place playoff game to Brethren, based in

Huntington Beach.

This year, Brethren is, once again, among the teams projected to

have an inside track on the six-team league’s three guaranteed

postseason berths. Unbeaten St. Margaret’s is favored to claim the

Academy crown vacated when Calvary Chapel of Downey was placed in the

Olympic League.

“St. Margaret’s has cleanly established itself as the favorite,

and, based on records and from what I’ve heard, Brethren Christian

could be picked for second,” Keith said. “From what I understand, us

and Whitney are mid-level teams, with Capistrano Valley Christian and

Oxford Academy a notch below.

“Opening league is always a time when you try to take it up

another level in terms of intensity and preparation,” Keith said.

“We’re excited about it.”

The Lightning boasts one of the league’s most exciting players in

6-foot-3 senior “point center” Michael Fitzhugh. Fitzhugh, shifted to

point guard recently after opening the season in the post, is

averaging 22.3 points and 10 rebounds per game.

Junior Kevin Joyce (15.2 points per game) is also a valued weapon

for the Lightning. He has a team-leading 24 three-pointers in 11

games, including 17 in the last seven.

Sage Hill is without senior returning guard Erik Williams, who

averaged nearly eight points the first eight games, but has since

left the team.

The Sage Hill girls team, handed its first loss of the season

Tuesday by Northwood, also opens tonight, hosting Brethren Christian

in a prelude to the boys game at 6.

Coach Shanna Renkin’s squad (8-1), which won its first eight games

by an average of nearly 20 points, is led by 6-1 freshman center

Haywood Wright (13.2 ppg), 5-6 senior Carrie Clark (12.2 ppg) and 6-2

sophomore Katie Puishys (10.2 ppg).

The Lightning girls were 2-8 in league last season, when Brethren

Christian finished one game ahead of Capo Valley Christian with 9-1

record to claim the crown.

Brethren Christian is ranked No. 2 in CIF Division IV-A, with Capo

Valley Christian ranked No. 5 in the same division. Sage Hill is not

ranked.