Valencia

BURBANK — Holding opposing teams to less than 50 points has become a staple for the Hoover High girls' basketball squad this season. It's been the main reason behind the Tornadoes starting the season on a torrid note, evidenced by a five-game winning streak in which they didn't yield more than 49 points. Those two streaks ended Friday night, as Hoover suffered a 62-53 loss to powerful Valencia in a semifinal game of the 24th annual Magnolia Park Optimist Club Holiday Tournament at Burroughs High.

Charles Rich BURBANK -- Glendale High girls' basketball Coach Errol Garnett peered onto the court with some exasperation Tuesday night. Garnett's squad had suddenly stopped executing on the fundamentals it had conquered en route to a four-game winning streak in Summer League competition. It also would have helped Glendale if someone other than Arpi Babakhanian could provide some scoring punch. Babakhanian scored a team-high 14 points in Glendale's 59-39 loss to Valencia in a Burroughs High Summer Jam on Tuesday.

Kevin Traber knows how miserable it is to be ill. Born in La Crescenta, he was trained as a flight nurse and served in the first Gulf War transporting injured and sick personnel during Desert Storm/Shield. As an emergency room nurse for 20 years, he's worked with patients as a hands-on health care practitioner and then in medicine administration. Finally, as the father of three active sons, he's been on the receiving end of emergency services. And many times he found these services sadly lacking.

Mirjam Swanson SOUTHEAST GLENDALE -- Talk about your different strokes. The Valencia boys' tennis team was nit-picking every minute detail, tattling on one another to their coach about exactly how many double faults each of them had, rating each Glendale players' respective left and right hands, and thereby sealing the deal in the Vikings 13-5 nonleague win on the Nitros' courts Monday. Meanwhile, Glendale -- playing for the first time since spring break and without its usual No. 1 singles player Robert Yim, who was off in the Easter Invitational in Palm Springs -- was just trying to grab ahold of a match that so quickly got away.

LA CRESCENTA ? A lack of rebounding proved to be the bane for the Crescenta Valley High girls? basketball team, which saw its season end Thursday night with a 62-51 loss to visiting Valencia in a CIF Southern Section Division I-A wild-card contest. Valencia out rebounded Crescenta Valley, 44-26, and never trailed in a contest that featured 40 personal fouls. Simply put, the Falcons allowed too many offensive rebounds that led to too many easy Valencia baskets. ?We didn?

Area comedy club lovers may have a new haunt close to home. Comedian Randy Lubas, who has appeared at The Ice House in Pasadena and The Improv in Los Angeles, premiered his show, J.R.’s Comedy Club, on Saturday night at The Mix nightclub in Montrose. Having great success with the show at the Marie Callender’s in Valencia for the past nine years, Lubas opened another venue in Simi Valley this year and is now trying Montrose. About 30 people, many who are regulars at the Valencia venue, checked it out and said they like the shows because they don’t have to make the long trek out of town.

LA CRESCENTA ? For 77 minutes and change, the Crescenta Valley High girls? soccer team played a frustrating game of catch-up. With just 1:50 left on the clock, Veronica Aguilar and the Falcons finally caught up. The junior midfielder?s 79th-minute goal off a Brittany Johnson pass rallied Crescenta Valley for a 1-1 nonleague tie with visiting Valencia in Tuesday afternoon?s nonleague match at Crescenta Valley High. ?It landed right in front of me,? said Aguilar of the pass that started with a Brittani Dearman throw-in and got to Aguilar after a Johnson header.

BURBANK — The Crescenta Valley High girls' basketball team did just enough during Tuesday's Burroughs Summer League matchup with Valencia to ensure they were never out of the game. However, thanks to a sluggish start and the lack of any consistent offense, the Falcons never really challenged the Vikings either — getting no closer than seven points in the second half before losing 44-37. "We walked into the game and we were not focused and ready to play," Crescenta Valley Coach Jason Perez said.

VALENCIA ? For all the character put on display by the underdog Crescenta Valley High boys? basketball team, its 60-57 loss on the road to Valencia in the CIF Southern Section Division II-AA first round was all the more heartbreaking. In the end, a long-range prayer by Crescenta Valley standout Clay Sierra went unanswered just before the buzzer sounded on the Falcons? season. Nevertheless, it was the play of seniors Sierra and Eric Strangis, along with the overall tenacious play of the team, that most assuredly stood as the highlight for the Falcons.

LA CRESCENTA — While it was hosted by the Crescenta Valley High Falcons and featured more than half the other teams from the Pacific League, the championship round of the 2012 Crescenta Valley Passing Tournament was dominated by the Foothill League. By the semifinals of the two-day tournament that concluded Saturday afternoon, the final four consisted of Foothill mainstays Hart, Valencia and Saugus and Arcadia, which shared the Pacific League title last season. Hart bested Valencia, 30-24, in the championship round.

NORTHEAST GLENDALE — Unbeaten in the 2011 Vaquero Summer Classic heading into the playoff round, the Glendale High boys' basketball team had a chance to move forward into the championship game when it took on Valencia on Saturday at Glendale Community College. Instead, the Nitros took a step back from their solid summer play of late, wilting under the weight of too many turnovers and not enough offense in the second half of a 51-44 loss. "We just flat out turned the ball over too much today and that was our killer," said Glendale Coach Steve Snodgress, whose team took a 23-17 lead into halftime, but lost it for good early in the second half.

PASADENA — Around most of the diamond, several red flags popped up for the St. Francis High baseball team during its season opener Friday afternoon. The Golden Knights committed four errors and their ace pitcher struggled with his command, leading to an 11-2 loss against Valencia in an Easton Tournament contest at Jackie Robinson Field. It's something St. Francis Coach Brian Esquival had hoped the Golden Knights could avoid, but some of the mishaps weren't entirely unexpected.

VALENCIA — A frantic finish for the St. Francis High football team wasn't enough to overcome a stagnant first three quarters. Plagued by dropped passes, turnovers and often porous defense, the Golden Knights were upset by host West Ranch, 35-34, on Friday night at Valencia High. "First half was really ugly," said St. Francis Coach Jim Bonds, whose team, ranked fourth in the CIF Southern Section Western Division, fell to 3-1. "We stressed about not shooting ourselves in the foot at halftime… and then we turned the ball over three times.

LA CRESCENTA — A certain group of freshmen on the Crescenta Valley High swim teams aren’t willing to waste time. That can likely only mean good things for boys’ athletes Young Tae Seo and Harrison Thai and girls’ swimmer Robin Yi. Making their high school debuts Tuesday afternoon, the trio stepped to the forefront to help their respective teams open up with nonleague wins against visiting Valencia. Seo and Thai won a pair of events each to help the Falcons earn a 112-58 win, while Yi also captured a pair of events to spark Crescenta Valley to an 87-83 victory.

LA CRESCENTA — In her final playoff run with the Crescenta Valley High girls’ basketball team, Cassie Pappas finally beat postseason nemesis Valencia Valencia on Thursday night, but not without a huge helping hand from fellow senior guard Ani Ebrahimian. Ebrahimian game up with a huge steal late and scored eight fourth-quarter points, including two three-pointers and a pair of clutch free throws with 7.1 seconds left in the game to clinch a 53-48 win for the host Falcons in a CIF Southern Section Division I-A first-round game.

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE — None of the three area football programs participating in the St. Francis High Passing League Tournament on Friday got a chance to compete for the tournament championship. In fact, St. Francis, Crescenta Valley and Glendale were all knocked out of the running in the first round of the playoffs and finished the day with just two wins between them. Not that it bothered any of the teams’ respective coaches all that much — for the Golden Knights, Falcons and Nitros, the passing leagues of summer are part of a learning process rather than a testing ground for the finished product.

NORTHEAST GLENDALE — There’s nothing better than learning during the summer about strengths and weaknesses. That’s the approach the Glendale High boys’ basketball team has chosen to take for at least the next several days while competing in the 10th annual Vaquero Summer Shootout at Glendale Community College. Glendale found several things it did well and not so well during a 58-36 loss to Valencia in a tournament pool-play contest Thursday afternoon.

VALENCIA — Missing what is sure to be an ample amount of hype — along with shoulder pads, helmets and linemen — the Crescenta Valley High and Glendale football teams squared off on a hot Wednesday afternoon for the first time with longtime Falcons Coach Alan Eberhart manning the Nitros sidelines. What transpired was a spirited back-and-fourth seven-on-seven contest that saw Glendale show plenty of fight — a far cry from an abysmal performance earlier in the day — but still come up short against Crescenta Valley, which rallied from two touchdowns down to win, 38-30, in overtime.

This week?s C.V. Sun All-Star is Francesca Valencia, a 17-year-old junior at Clark Magnet High School in La Crescenta. Valencia is a talented tennis player, a dedicated student and volunteer in her community, and the 2009 recipient of Soroptimist International of the Verdugos? Violet Richardson Award. Valencia received the award last week. She was selected from among several nominees, for her exceptional volunteerism and character traits, said Stephanie Mines, a past president of Soroptimist International of the Verdugos.