{"id":59065,"date":"2025-11-18T20:23:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T20:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/59065\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T20:23:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T20:23:07","slug":"long-beach-poly-girls-basketball-preview-the562-org","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/59065\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Beach Poly Girls\u2019 Basketball Preview \u2013 The562.org"},"content":{"rendered":"

The562\u2019s coverage of Long Beach Poly Athletics for the 2025-26 school year is sponsored by Former Jackrabbits Wendell \u201cWoWo\u201d Moe, Jr. & Tyson Ruffins.<\/a><\/p>\n

This year, the Long Beach Poly girls\u2019 basketball team is trying to do something no other team in California history has ever done. The Jackrabbits enter the year with 211 consecutive wins in the Moore League, a remarkable streak that dates all the way back to 2008 and encompasses 19 consecutive league championships for Poly. That win streak is the second-longest in state prep history, trailing only Troy\u2019s run of 219 straight league wins from 1996-2018, which means that if the Jackrabbits can once again run through the Moore League they would dethrone Troy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I didn\u2019t know that,\u201d said longtime Poly coach Carl Buggs with a laugh. \u201cYou learn something new every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buggs is often the last to learn about some historic streak or accolade he and his Jackrabbits accomplish. He also doesn\u2019t know that a league title this year would make his program just the eighth in California history to win 20 league titles in a row, or that he enters the season with 642 career wins (and a remarkable varsity basketball coaching record of 642-132). Buggs is eight wins away from becoming the 16th coach in California history with 650 girls\u2019 basketball wins\u2013his longtime Moore League rival Lorene Morgan is just seven wins away from the same feat, highlighting how strong the league has been historically.<\/p>\n

This year may not be the Moore League\u2019s most talent-packed year, and it\u2019s not Poly\u2019s either. But the reason Buggs is so blissfully unaware of the historical context for his team\u2019s success is that he\u2019s busy doing what he does every year\u2013trying to get his team to be a little better each day than they were the day before. This year? There\u2019s plenty of room to grow.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is probably the most inexperienced team I\u2019ve had in my years coaching,\u201d said Buggs. \u201cWe have just one returnee with valuable game experience who started last year\u2013everybody else was more of a role player, and they\u2019re going to have to step up. They\u2019re great kids and they work hard, there\u2019s not a lot of experience but I love their attitude.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lone returner is Ana Villamar, a guard on last year\u2019s team who started most games, but who was also only fourth on the team in scoring with 4.8 points per game. A first-team All-Moore League honoree, she helped lead Poly to a 22-6 overall record and an undefeated 12-0 Moore League slate before the Jackrabbits uncharacteristically fell in the opening round of the playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to win every game but we\u2019re going to take it day by day and not look too far ahead,\u201d said Villamar. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to just focus on us and not anybody else and keep playing our game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"2025<\/a>Ana Villamar will be a key returner for the Jackrabbits this year<\/p>\n

Villamar said that the Jackrabbits have bonded throughout the Summer and Fall and are excited to have their new faces on the court together.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the chemistry side, and when you have that the rest will come on the court because you know each other so well,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The other major factor for Poly will be 6-5 senior center Imani Hagens, who adds an immediate post presence. The Jackrabbits also return second-team All-Moore League guard Milia Misher, post Simdi Akpamgbo, and sophomore Bella Archer. Buggs said the team\u2019s freshman class will also provide some immediate help, especially freshman guards Eliana Mao and Nevaeh Johnson, as well as wing Jovahnah Dalton.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest adjustment for all of them is how hard they have to play at the varsity level, all the time, every possession,\u201d said Buggs. \u201cWe\u2019re playing our normal (difficult) schedule and our preseason record may not look too good because we\u2019re trying to play tougher opponents early in order to prepare for league and the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The562\u2019s coverage of Long Beach Poly Athletics for the 2025-26 school year is sponsored by Former Jackrabbits Wendell…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-59065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}