high school sport

Junior point guard Savannah Myles of Westchester is having an MVP-caliber season.

She’s averaging 26 points for the 15-3 Comets, the City Section Open Division title favorites.

She has a 4.0 grade-point average and keeps improving on the court.

Coach EJ Jackson said she has tremendous leadership skills, having been the team captain the last two seasons.

“She’s a three-level scorer who controls the pace of the game,” Jackson said.

The Comets play Western League rival Hamilton on Wednesday.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

Oak Park’s boys’ soccer team is proving very stingy when it comes to giving up goals.

Led by goalkeeper Ben Buchler, the Eagles (14-1-1) have recorded 10 shutouts this season, a school record.

Noah Zweig celebrates after scoring for Oak Park.

(Sharon Levy)

Their latest shutout came in a 3-0 Coastal Canyon League win over Royal. Cole Mitchell has been supplying the offense. He had three goals in a win over Newbury Park.

Next up is a showdown match with Moorpark (7-2-2) on Tuesday.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

Noah Darnell, a senior pitcher at Santa Margarita High, got to experience something that is becoming too common in the world of the college transfer portal and changing NIL rules.

He was committed to Tulane for about five months. Then a week before his senior year was to begin, he received a phone call.

“They didn’t have a spot for me,” he said of Tulane. “We’re going in another direction.”

A week later, Darnell went to an Ivy League showcase and informed coaches he was back on the market. Harvard coaches saw him, knew he had a 4.4 grade-point average and told him they wanted him.

“Harvard was No. 1 from the get-go,” Darnell said. “I’m so happy.”

These last-minute phone calls by schools telling commits there’s no longer a spot have become more frequent, especially because college baseball has changing roster rules. Luckily for Darnell, everything worked out.

“I felt a little bit angry,” he said of his initial reaction. “I was frustrated. I wanted to work twice as hard to get another offer.”

As for lessons learned in this sometimes uncertain environment, Darnell said, “The main lesson I learned was God has a plan and you have to trust it.”

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

JuJu Watkins is returning to Sierra Canyon High on Friday, the place where she was a high school basketball All-American.

The school will hold a ceremony retiring her jersey at halftime of the boys’ basketball game between Sierra Canyon and Sherman Oaks Notre Dame.

She will be presented with a framed jersey.

Watkins is sitting out this season at USC while recovering from a knee injury.

Sierra Canyon girls’ basketball coach Alicia Komaki said, “She raised our standards, which was hard to do because we had won four state championships. She was an incredibly talented player.”

Watkins was also making a huge impact in the college game until her injury last season during the NCAA playoffs.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

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Will Bryson III of St. Paul stuck it out for his senior basketball season even though the team lost pretty much everybody to graduation except for him.

All he can do is his best, and that’s what he has been doing, including a 68-point performance two weeks ago in Las Vegas in a triple overtime game.

The 6-foot-4 guard is averaging 33.1 points a game for St. Paul (6-9) and showing dedication in that he stayed knowing the team might not be as good as last season’s 19-11 team, but he’d be the leader entrusted to help young players develop. On Friday, he faces the state’s leading scorer, Jason Crowe Jr. of Inglewood, in a noon game at Morningside. Bryson ranks as No. 3 in the state. Crowe is averaging 43.9 points and the two have been facing off since their youth days.

Coach Patrick Roy has been raving about Bryson’s contributions.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.