Los Alamitos High School basketball point guard Kayli Liew has been named co-MVP of the Surf League, and center Kassidy Beach has been placed on the All-Surf-League First Team by a consensus of league coaches. The two juniors led the Griffins (20-10) to a Surf League Co-Championship with Corona del Mar (17-12). Both teams had 5-1 league records.
Playing point guard, Liew led the team in scoring, controlled the Griffins’ offensive tempo, and played smothering defense. In league play, she averaged 14.2 points, 3.8 assists, and 3 steals per game while also hitting 2 threes per game.
In the 43-37 final game victory over Corona del Mar, which earned the Griffins the co-championship, the 5’-5” Liew led both teams in scoring with 16 points, including hitting 2 threes and scoring 7 points in the decisive fourth quarter.
In 29 games overall this season, Liew averaged 13.8 points per game and hit 58 threes. She shares the Surf League MVP honor with Corona del Mar senior Kenedie Matthews.
The All-League honors were announced on March 23 at the Griffins’ team banquet at “The Grand” in Long Beach. At the banquet, Liew also was named the team MVP.
Beach earned her All-League honor through her strong rebounding, dominating defense, and timely scoring. During league play, the 6’-1” Beach averaged 8.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.3 steals, and 1.7 blocks per game.
In the crucial 39-38 victory over Fountain Valley (12-16), which allowed the Griffins to play for the league championship in the next game, Beach led the team in scoring with 12 points to go along with 8 rebounds, 4 blocks, and 4 steals.
For the season, Beach also was honored as the Griffins “Defensive Player of the Year.”
“Kayli and Kassidy led us to the championship this year, and I’m very happy that they received these league honors,” said Head Coach Maya Kennedy.
Other team awards announced at the banquet included point guard Kaitlyn Nakagawa being honored as MVP of the JV team and shooting guard Karla Buenrostro being honored as MVP of the Frosh / Soph team.
