Athlete of the Week: Bruening behind CdM’s success

For the first time in her life, Corona del Mar High senior Natalia Bruening is playing on the same sports team as her younger sister, freshman Tatiana.

The CdM girls’ basketball team is glad to have both sisters on the squad. There are some differences between the two.

Natalia is a four-year starter for the Sea Kings, while “Tati” is coming off the bench this year. And older sister stands 6-foot-4 and has four inches on younger sister, although that won’t be true for long.

“I’m excited,” Natalia Bruening said. “I’m glad that she can kind of carry out my legacy, but also create her own. I know it’s kind of hard for her at this point because she’s just playing backup and doesn’t have as much playing time, but I feel like this year is really going to set her up so she can do great things next year and figure out who she is as a player.”

Of the sisters, Natalia said she thinks Tati actually has less pressure on her, as counterintuitive as that may sound. They also have different personalities.

“My mom expects a lot out of me,” Natalia Bruening said of Julia, who played basketball and volleyball at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps College. “I’m kind of seen as a role model for [Tati], so I have that pressure. I mean, I put pressure on myself as well, and she’s more easy-going and relaxed about sports. It works for each of us.”

Tati, who did have a season-high 11 points in CdM’s Battle of the Bay win last week, will have her time with the Sea Kings. Right now, it is Natalia’s time to shine.

The Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week, a team co-captain bound for UC Santa Barbara, is doing it for Coach Mark Decker’s Sea Kings. She helped CdM to a hot start in Pacific Coast League play, opening with a 50-45 win at Woodbridge on Jan. 8 and a 53-47 win over Beckman at home on Tuesday.

Natalia Bruening had 14 points against Woodbridge and 17 against Beckman, right near her season averages of 16.5 points per game, 11 rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Those are consistent numbers the past couple of years too for Bruening, who shared Newport-Mesa Player of the Year honors with Estancia’s Celia Duran as a sophomore and earned the award outright last year. This year, though, she said she sees herself as more of a facilitator, making sure the offense is running smoothly.

The Warriors and Patriots are not going to facilitate the Sea Kings winning league. Beating Woodbridge and Beckman to start was big, as they are big threats in league to CdM, which earned just its second league title in program history last year after sharing it with Woodbridge.

Bruening showed off her range, hitting a key three-pointer late in the third quarter at Woodbridge last week. CdM saw its deficit shrink to just two points at the end of the quarter, then outscored Woodbridge, 15-8, in the fourth to pick up the big victory.

This year, Bruening said there are bigger goals for the Sea Kings, including an outright league title. They don’t want to share again.

And as far as CIF goes?

“I want to win it all,” said Bruening, who has helped CdM earn the No. 4 ranking so far in CIF Southern Section Division 3A. “I want to get a banner in the gym. There’s only one banner up there for girls’ basketball, and it’d be beyond awesome if we could get “2016” up there.”

Bruening is certainly motivated for the Sea Kings (13-4), who lost at University, 57-51, to drop to 2-1 in league on Friday night. The past two seasons, they have fallen in the CIF semifinals. She also lost in the semifinals in volleyball as a junior, and in the quarterfinals as a sophomore and this past fall. She would love to play in her first CIF title game.

“It’s such a huge goal, and I’ve come close to it so many times,” Bruening said. “It’s tough to be so close but so far. I just want to get that extra round in there and hopefully win it all. I think we have the skills and the team chemistry to do it this year, and I’m super-excited to see if we can.”

The Sea Kings seem to be coming together at a good time. Senior center and co-captain Krista Anderson has played well for CdM to open league, as has senior point guard Kelly Tam. Bruening, Anderson and Tam have a strong bond, as they have grown up playing hoops together.

Decker is certainly glad to have Bruening. He’s seen her put in the work to get better, though even as a freshman she averaged a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Last year, she earned Pacific Coast League MVP honors.

“She’s the best player in the league, and then she goes out [last] summer and improves even more, playing club basketball and working as hard as she did,” Decker said. “That shows everybody something, that she wasn’t just satisfied with where she was at. A lot of the other girls see that, and I think it rubs off on them.

“I still feel like her better days are still coming. The one thing you can say is that she’s improved every year, and there’s a lot of high school basketball players that don’t. She’s determined, she’s dedicated and it shows on the court.”

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Natalia Bruening

Born: Nov. 14, 1997

Hometown: Newport Beach

Height: 6-foot-4

Sport: Basketball

Year: Senior

Coach: Mark Decker

Favorite food: Mexican food

Favorite movie: Any Disney movie

Favorite athletic moment: Committing to UC Santa Barbara for women’s basketball..

Week in review: Bruening had 15 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks in a 48-26 Battle of the Bay win at Newport Harbor on Jan. 5, then had 14 points and 12 rebounds in a big 50-45 win at Woodbridge to open Pacific Coast League play on Jan. 8.