The Malibu High School girls varsity basketball team held its first practice of the season last week on the high school court. In his sixth year as head coach, Andy Meyer led the team last season to the District Playoffs, where the girls chalked up their first postseaon victory in the school’s history. The Sharks have only two returning starters. They are senior guard and co-captain Danielle Bush, who received first team All-League honors for the second consecutive year, and senior guard co-captain Hannah Robinson, who repeated her All- League Honorable Mention selection from the previous year. The team also returns forward Zoe Katz, playing in her fourth consecutive year, and junior center/forward Carolyn Pushaw, who was selected last season as the Most Improved Player.
Gone from the team are the high-scoring Vazelakis twins, center Sierra Zontelli as well as Evelyn Quartz and Alicia Valesquez. Among the players who will possibly join the varsity squad from the junior varsity team is JV captain Sierra Hinds and team high-scorer Danasjah Nyirenda.
The Sharks will travel to Catalina during the Christmas vacation and compete in the Avalon Holiday Tournament there. After that, the team has a game on Dec. 12 against Holy Family on the Malibu court, and its first Frontier League game Jan. 11 at Santa Paula.
“At this point, we of course have no idea just what the team will really be like,” Meyer said. “The girls certainly seem to enjoy each other, root for each other and support each other. That should work into good team chemistry. I suspect we’ll certainly be competitive again in the very competitive Frontier League.”