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Sports

St. Monica Basketball Player Sets Scoring Record

Senior Cory LaGuardia has led the school's girls basketball team to six straight wins.

Before each game, senior Cory LaGuardia meditates and prays to her guardian angels while listening to Eminem’s famous inspirational song, “Lose Yourself.”

This has always been a personal ritual, but as a senior leader, she recently decided to change the way she did things. Six games ago, she began including all her teammates in her pregame routine.

Since then, the girls basketball team (12-14 overall, 5-2 in league) hasn’t lost a game. Included in the Mariners' current streak is a victory over fifth-ranked Cantwell Sacred Heart on Tuesday night.

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“She helps us to focus and get in the zone when it’s time to play,” senior guard Angelica Douglas said. “She makes us feel confident in what we’re about to do.”

LaGuardia’s importance to St. Monica in her four years can hardly be understated. This season, she broke the school’s scoring record, amassing more than 1,200 points to break the previous record of 1,158 held by Alex Pagnato. She was honored for the achievement Thursday during the team’s final regular season game.

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LaGuardia can play all positions and score from the paint or beyond the three-point stripe. She is a two-time CIF Division 5AA Second Team and All-Camino Real League selection. She is also a four-time letter winner in both basketball and volleyball, this season a team captain in both.

“She’s a great leader and great role model for the program,” Head Coach John Skinner said. “We’re obviously going to miss her a lot. We wish we could have her for three or four more years.”

LaGuardia began playing basketball at age 4 but admitted she probably had a basketball in her hands long before that. She tried many sports, such as volleyball, softball and soccer, but basketball was always her favorite.

“There’s this constant movement and competition about it,” LaGuardia said. “There’s only five players on the court, so you always have to be doing something to help.”

That's not only LaGuardia’s motto on the court. She always seems to be doing something. In addition to sports, she also carries a 4.3 grade point average and tutors for the California Scholarship Federation. She is the student-body president and serves as an ambassador for the school.

As if all that weren't enough, she was also elected homecoming queen this year. There are days when she gets to school at 7:30 a.m. and doesn’t leave until after 8:30 p.m.

“I have loved my high school career,” LaGuardia said. “I like to be busy.”

However, the end of her high school career will also mark the end of her basketball career. She is applying to academically competitive schools such as Harvard and has decided to devote her intense focus elsewhere.

Only now is it hitting her what she will be giving up.

“It’s going to be hard to leave basketball behind,” LaGuardia said. “I didn’t think it would be this sad, but after our last game against Mary Star, one of the priests said something to me that definitely hit me that these are my last games.”

She will be missed by her teammates as well.

“She brings a lot of energy,” freshman point guard Katrina Balatico said. “She can play any position and score off anyone. She picks us up when we’re down. If she puts her mind to it, she can do anything. Without her, we are not going to be as good as we are now.”

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