Junior forwards Ryley Settles and Julia Cantrell scored two goals a piece to lead Claremont to a 5-0 win over Glendora on Tuesday at CHS. The victory gave the Wolfpack their fourth win of the season with three losses and one tie.

In its first home match of the year, Claremont showed why they would contend for a top spot in the tough Sierra League. The Pack got off to a hot start against the Tartans, as senior midfielder Megan Renken put the Pack ahead early with a goal in the fifth minute. In the 10th minute, Settles netted her first goal of the day to give Claremont a 2-0 lead. Less than four minutes later, Settles put in her second to tack on the Pack’s third goal in 15 minutes.

The Pack wasn’t done scoring before the break, as Cantrell netted a goal in the 40th minute to give Claremont their highest first-half scoring total this season.

Head coach Tim Tracey said it was important for Claremont to come out and score early after struggling in that regard the first seven games.

“We haven’t been at 100 percent,” Coach Tracey said. “This is the first game that we’ve been actually at 100 percent of our starting lineup, and it’s all about the development. We tried to put the game away early.”

The second half was a quiet one for both teams, with the Pack carrying over its dominant defensive effort from the first half. Claremont fought through a 30-minute scoring drought to open the second half and added its fifth goal in the 79th minute when Cantrell broke away from the opposition and tallied her second of the game.

With its 5-0 win, Claremont now has three shutouts in its first eight matches. The Pack’s defense is playing its best ball of the young season, having allowed only two goals over the last three matches. 

The Lady Pack graduated almost all of its defenders from a year ago, and their effort was an encouraging sign for a maturing backline.

“It was huge for us,” Coach Tracey said. “They’re new to the position and were working hard in the training sessions to organize and to make sure that we can play at this level and defend well at this level.”

Boys basketball on losing end of three tough games

The Claremont boys basketball team (3-4, 0-0) lost both its games this week in its opening matches of the North Orange County Championships. The Pack fell to Villa Park, 79-66, on Monday and Los Alamitos, 69-40, on Tuesday.

After a 20-point first quarter put Claremont up early against the Villa Park Spartans, the Wolfpack was outscored in the remaining three quarters to give the Pack its third loss in its last four games.

Claremont had four scorers in double digits, including senior Omar Mahmoud with 17, senior Chris Edward with 14, sophomore Nakia Harris-Neal with 12 and Quincy Hailes with 10.

Tuesday’s matchup with Los Alamitos featured Claremont’s lowest first-half scoring output of the season. After totaling four points in the first quarter, the Pack tacked on 11 points in the second to give them 15 first-half points. They trailed 41-15 at halftime.

Claremont outscored the Griffins 13-6 in the third quarter to pull within 19. Los Alamitos added 22 points in the fourth to clinch its fifth victory in six games.   

Sophomore Harlan Maass led Claremont in scoring with 15 points, connecting on five of seven shot attempts.

Claremont will play its fourth game of the tournament tomorrow against an opponent yet to be determined. 

Girls basketball opponents vary greatly in skill levels

After going 4-1 in the Claremont tournament last week, the Pack split its two games in this week’s San Dimas Tournament. Claremont (6-2, 0-0) topped Gladstone, 40-25, on Monday and fell to Lakeside, 56-32, on Tuesday.

Senior Danna Robles, the scoring leader averaging 9.5 points per game, gave an outstanding defensive effort to help carry the Pack to their fifth win of the season.

Claremont entered the game averaging 47 points to Gladstone’s 24, and came in averaging more rebounds, assists and steals per game.

In Tuesday’s loss to Lakeside, the Pack struggled getting their offense going in the first half, as displayed by their 9 total points at the break. They outscored the Lancers 12-9 in the third quarter and put up 11 more in the fourth, but Lakeside never let Claremont get back in the game as they held on for the 24-point victory.

The Pack’s next game will be in the Don Lugo Shawnae Harris Memorial Tournament on Monday.

Boys soccer holds win streak

With its 2-1 win over Etiwanda on Tuesday, the Claremont boys soccer team moved to 4-2-2 in the season. The Pack is 2-0-1 in the last three games and has not lost since December 9.

Claremont will compete in the Marina High School tournament on Dec. 27 before rounding out the season with eight straight league matches.

—Bryan Stauffer

sports@claremont-courier.com