Laguna Hills

Bret Fleming saw his Laguna Beach High boys' basketball team go through a learning and growing process the first month of the season. The Breakers won 11 of their first 17 games, although Fleming would like to have a placed a few more of those outcomes in the win column. His squad ended the nonleague portion of their schedule Saturday at the Estancia Coast Christmas Classic, and came up with a third-place finish. Laguna concluded the tournament with an impressive, 67-60 victory over Corona in the third-place game.

Twelve games into the 2012-13 season, and Laguna Beach High boys' basketball coach Bret Fleming says he's still mystified by his team. The Breakers have won seven of those 12 outings and most recently wrapped play Saturday at the Irvine World News/Gary Raya Classic. They started off dubiously at the tournament, losing consecutive games to Woodbridge (52-42) and Tesoro (60-52). They regrouped to defeat Esperanza (70-58) and Edison (60-54) in succession, but in the fifth-place game Saturday, lost, 54-45, to Northwood.

Three Laguna Beach National Junior Basketball teams scored convincing victories last weekend to remain undefeated on the new season. It was the final games of the year for Laguna teams which resume their season schedules in January. Boys' Division 3 The Laguna Beach Team 2 improved to 3-0 by rolling to a 60-25 victory over the Laguna Hills Thunder. Nolan Naess netted a game-high 18 points and Will Compton, who had a big game scoring from the outside, scored 16 points for the Breakers.

The Laguna Beach girls' Division 1 team got its 2012-13 season off to a winning start Saturday by defeating Laguna Hills Team 1, 37-19, in National Junior Basketball action at Thurston Middle School in Laguna Beach. Laguna Beach got off to a slow start and trailed, 12-6, after the first quarter. They rallied behind a tough defense and balanced scoring and pulled away in the second half. Sophia Lucas led Laguna Beach with nine points. Nicole Davidson scored eight points and had five steals and both Madison Sinclair and Rachel Kinney scored six points.

The 2012-13 season got underway last weekend for Laguna Beach National Junior Basketball teams, three of whom picked up opening day victories. GIRLS' NJB Division 2 Laguna Beach 31, Aliso Niguel 14: Piper Naess scored a game-high 12 points and had several steals on defense, as host Laguna registered its first win at Thurston Middle School. Molly Cohn pitched in seven points from the point position, Izzy Meekma scored six points and Evie Laptin added four points. Laguna and Aliso Niguel will face each other on Dec. 15 at Thurston Middle School.

Year one is done and in the books. What, possibly, will the second season hold? After a record-setting season last fall, the Laguna Beach High football program turns its attention to the 2012 season which, believe it or not, is just a few weeks away from its starting point. Players have had a two-week respite between the end of summer ball, and the start of fall camp which opens Monday at Guyer Field. The Breakers begin their season Aug. 31 against Bolsa Grande. The summer session was a success for the Breakers who held four 7-on-7 passing competitions against six schools (JSerra, Lakeside, Estancia, Laguna Hills, Huntington Beach and Aliso Niguel)

The opening of a Chick-fil-A franchise in Laguna Hills attracted more than new customers early Thursday morning as protesters picketed outside over the restaurant chain chief executive's opposition to gay marriage. About 35 protesters arrived at the new restaurant on El Toro Road near the 5 Freeway to sound off against statements made by CEO Dan Cathy. In a recent interview with Baptist Press , Cathy said that although he doesn't consider Chik-fil-A a "Christian business," he does operate on "biblical principles.

The start of the season is still six weeks away, but Laguna Beach High football Coach Mike Churchill has a pretty good read on his 2012 Breakers. "The biggest thing I've seen so far is that we're so much further ahead this year at this time than we were last year," he said. Last June served as a prelude to Churchill's first season as Laguna's head coach meaning his Breakers were still learning the Xs and Os of a new playbook. "We were [reaching] and had to learn a whole new offense and a whole new defense," Churchill said.

The Laguna Beach Little League Major Division All-Star team is moving on in the District 55 All-Star Tournament. Laguna has played three games since Saturday, has won two straight and posted a 2-1 record. It's latest game Tuesday resulted in a 10-1 victory over Rancho Niguel at Woodfield Park in Aliso Viejo that kept the team alive in the double-elimination tournament. Laguna Beach will attempt to again fend off elimination when it takes on Laguna Niguel at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Woodfield Park (Field 4)

Cynthia "Cindy" Frazier, who served as city editor of the Coastline Pilot for nearly eight years, has died. She was 60. Cindy had been battling pancreatic cancer for the last year. She succumbed to her illness Wednesday morning at Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills. After working at community newspapers in the Santa Monica area, Cindy joined the Coastline Pilot in January 2005 as city editor, quickly immersing herself in the community. She placed a strong emphasis on City Hall and arts coverage, and also wrote quirky columns about everything from taking art classes to her small roles on the community theater stage.