UCLA women return to No. 2, then lose to No. 16 Utah in OT

• January 23, 2024

By MATTHEW COLES The Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY — The UCLA women’s basketball team returned to the No. 2 spot in the latest AP Top 25 poll to start the day, but the Bruins didn’t have much to celebrate by the end of the night despite a valiant fourth-quarter comeback.

Kennady McQueen had a season-high 21 points, Dasia Young and Matyson Wilke each made four 3-pointers and No. 16 Utah upended UCLA, 94-81, in overtime on Monday night.

“Normally, it’s Alissa (Pili) coming up in those huge moments but seeing her struggle, she knows that we’re more than capable. She was hyping us all up the entire time. Everyone else just stepped up individually tonight,” McQueen said.

Young and Wilke each had season highs of 16 points to overcome an off-game by their star Pili, who had 16 points on 4-of-15 shooting.

“(Pili) doesn’t care how many points she scores. She wasn’t mad … and wasn’t telling us, ‘Guys, I need the ball.’ She kept passing it when we were open and it just shows we love each other and we’re gonna do anything we can to win,” Wilke said.

Utah (14-5 overall, 4-3 Pac-12) had never defeated a team ranked this high and had never beaten the Bruins (15-2, 4-2) three times in a row.

Gabriela Jaquez scored 21 points, Kiki Rice added 16 and Charisma Osborne had 14 for the Bruins, who were outscored 22-9 in overtime after a remarkable fourth-quarter comeback.

“We showed a lot of guts to put us in a position to where I thought we should have won the game. We got to close that out,” UCLA coach Cori Close said.

In overtime, Pili finally made her mark with a rebound putback and two free throws on consecutive possessions to put Utah up 83-76 with 2:01 remaining. UCLA, which was outrebounded for the first time all season (38-35), never got close after that.

The Bruins had clamped down in the fourth quarter, forcing five turnovers and 1-for-9 shooting before Wilke hit her fourth 3-pointer of the game to make it 70-64.

“We didn’t win many hustle plays until the fourth quarter,” Close said. “We got stops, attacking in transition, getting second-shot opportunities.”

Jaquez, Rice and Brown made three shots in a row to give UCLA its first lead, 71-70, since the first half with 53.9 seconds left. The Bruins blocked Pili twice in the final minute of regulation.

Utah’s Ines Vieira, who had 12 points, made a driving layup to send the game to overtime after Camryn Brown made a free throw with four seconds remaining in regulation.

“Ines’s layup – that wasn’t even the play – but she just made a read and it was perfect,” McQueen said.

BIG PICTURE

UCLA: With the height advantage they enjoy nearly every game, the Bruins gave Pili problems but couldn’t cash in with many easy baskets on the offensive end. The UCLA defense couldn’t keep up as Utah generated wide-open 3-point looks with its drive-and-kick offense.

Utah: The Utes take the vast majority of their shots around the basket or behind the 3-point line, so when the 3-pointers (13 for 28) are falling Utah’s offense really hums. Perhaps the keys were Utah’s all-out hustle with swarming defense and bodies on the floor nearly every play.

UP NEXT

UCLA hosts Washington on Friday at 7 p.m.

​ Orange County Register 

Earl of Sandwich rooftop bar coming to Downtown Disney

• January 23, 2024

The fan-favorite Earl of Sandwich shop that has bounced around Downtown Disney will boast a rooftop bar with a sit-down restaurant when the quick-service eatery finally lands in its permanent new home at the outdoor shopping mall next to Disneyland.

The ground floor counter service restaurant will have grab-and-go sandwiches and salads familiar to fans while the upstairs gastropub will offer table service similar to the Earl of Sandwich Tavern at the restaurant’s current location in the former La Brea Bakery.

Earl of Sandwich will be on the move again soon when a temporary pop-up trailer opens next to the Star Wars Trading Post so the La Brea Bakery can be torn down to make way for the new Porto’s Bakery.

ALSO SEE: Disneyland installing automated turnstiles in $4.8 million entrance makeover

Concept art of the Parkside Market food hall concept coming to Downtown Disney. (Disney)

In related news, Disneyland released concept art of the Parkside Market food hall that will feature three grab-and-go restaurant concepts and a rooftop bar.

The three eateries will offer Korean rice bowls, fried chicken sandwiches and Caribbean-inspired coffee curated by the Levy Restaurants group.

Concept art of the second story bar atop Parkside Market shows an indoor-outdoor concept with commanding views.

Concept art of the Parkside Market rooftop bar coming to Downtown Disney. (Disney)

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ALSO SEE: Disneyland reveals its 2024 Lunar New Year festival menu

Elsewhere in Downtown Disney, the new Tiendita quick-service restaurant will offer grab-and-go Mexican street food classics next door to the Paseo table service restaurant and Centrico courtyard bar under construction at the Anaheim mall.

All three concepts will be helmed by Michelin-starred chef Carlos Gaytan.

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County scores and player stats for Monday, Jan. 22

• January 23, 2024

Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now

Scores and stats from Orange County games on Monday, Jan. 22

Click here for details about sending your team’s scores and stats to the Register.

The deadline for submitting information is 10:45 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 p.m. Saturday.

MONDAY’S SCORES

BOYS BASKETBALL

SOUTH COAST LEAGUE

San Clemente 45, Trabuco Hills 41

SC: Tolliver 15 pts, 17 reb. Whidden 13 pts, 7 reb

TH: Meza-Tallada 19 pts. Mowers 12 pts, 12 reb.

SEA VIEW LEAGUE

Dana Hills 82, Mission Viejo 52

DH: Haugh 30 pts. Torab 17 pts.

EMPIRE LEAGUE

Cypress 65, Tustin 50

Cyp: Wright 26 pts. Kim 16 pts.

Tus: Kong 12 pts. Jue 12 pts.

Pacifica 47, Valencia 33

ORANGE LEAGUE

Magnolia 46, Century 41

FREEWAY LEAGUE

La Habra 74, Buena Park 49

GARDEN GROVE LEAGUE

Loara 56, Bolsa Grande 41

GIRLS BASKETBALL

FREEWAY LEAGUE

Sunny Hills 50, Sonora 45

Buena Park 67, La Habra 47

TRINITY LEAGUE

Mater Dei 93, JSerra 36

MD: Cotton 25 pts, 13 rebs. Shaw 16 pts. Wynn 14 pts. Golightly 14 pts.

EMPIRE LEAGUE

Pacifica 46, Valencia 45

Crean Lutheran 47, Kennedy 33

Cypress 36, Tustin 33

GARDEN GROVE LEAGUE

Loara 54, Bolsa Grande 17

La Quinta 37, Los Amigos 34

ORANGE LEAGUE

Anaheim 54, Savanna 37

Ana: McGregor 17 pts, 12 reb, Guzman 14 pts, 10 reb.

Sav: Carigma 12 pts

NONLEAGUE

Portola 69, Irvine 43

Por: Watanabe 12 pts. Abraham-Mendez 11 pts. Saiki 10 pts.

Irv: Vargas 10 pts.

Note: Brian Barnham earned his 100th career varsity win at Portola.

Woodbridge 56, Beckman 52

WB: Burrus 16 pts. Yasui 15 pts. Watanabe 8 pts.

Fountain Valley 50, Huntington Beach 45

HB: Hoang 18 pts. Miyai 15 pts.

FV: Tran 11 pts. Hseih 10

Other nonleague games

Notre Dame Academy (LA) 49, Laguna Beach 32

BOYS SOCCER

EMPIRE LEAGUE

Tustin 2, Cypress 0

Crean Lutheran 3, Kennedy 0

SOUTH COAST LEAGUE

San Clemente 0, Aliso Niguel 0

ACADEMY LEAGUE

Pacifica Christian 6, Orangewood Academy 0

NONLEAGUE

Woodbridge 4, Beckman 2

Irvine 2, Portola 0

University 2, Sage Hill 0

GIRLS SOCCER

EMPIRE LEAGUE

Pacifica 4, Valencia 1

Goals: (Pac) Nunez 2, Oca 2

Cypress 2, Tustin 0

ORANGE LEAGUE

Century 2, Magnolia 0

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

Woodbridge 2, Beckman 0

NONLEAGUE

Portola 5, Irvine 1

GIRLS WATER POLO

SOUTH COAST LEAGUE

San Clemente 20, Dana Hills 5

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

Northwood 5, Laguna Hills 0

Beckman 11, Woodbridge 5

Irvine 12, Portola 9

NONLEAGUE

Lakewood 17, Santa Ana 11

​ Orange County Register 

Former Long Beach man gets 10-year sentence for running a timeshare-exit scam

• January 23, 2024

LOS ANGELES — A former Long Beach resident was sentenced Monday to 121 months — about 10 years — in federal prison for leading a telemarketing scheme in which boiler room tactics were used to scam dozens of timeshare owners out of more than $5 million by giving them false promises of financial relief.

Michael McDonagh, 43, who currently lives in Massachusetts, was sentenced in downtown Los Angeles by U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, who also ordered him to pay $5.46 million in restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

McDonagh pleaded guilty in May to one count of wire fraud.

McDonagh founded and/or controlled several telemarketing companies — Irvine-based Global Transfer Inc., Costa Mesa-based Global Transfer SoCal Inc., Santa Ana-based Nationwide Transfer Inc. and Signal Hill-based Nationwide Exit Specialist Inc. — that purported to offer timeshare relief. According to prosecutors, once one telemarketing company became inundated with consumer complaints, McDonagh would form a new telemarketing company to perpetuate the fraud.

From 2015 to May 2019, “openers” who worked for McDonagh contacted timeshare owners and offered to help them terminate their timeshare interest for a fixed fee. If the timeshare owner expressed interest in the services, the call was transferred to a “closer” who convinced victims to sign contracts, prosecutors said.

Within weeks of the victim paying the fee, they were contacted and told a series of lies to induce them to pay more money, prosecutors said. Some victims were falsely told that they would obtain — for an additional fee — a large settlement payment based on purported litigation against the timeshare company.

McDonagh and his co-schemers also made false promises of securing — for even more money — a large “restitution” payment from the timeshare company, claiming the company had rented out the victim’s timeshare property without the victim’s permission.

More than $5 million in losses were caused by McDonagh or his co- conspirators, prosecutors said.

The other four defendants charged with along with McDonagh also have pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and await sentencing.

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​ Orange County Register 

Commercial building fire causes nearby Fullerton elementary school to shelter in place

• January 23, 2024

Approximately 45 firefighters knocked down a large fire Monday in a vacant two-story commercial building in Fullerton.

Around 1:23 p.m., crewmembers from the Fullerton Fire Department responded to heavy fire and smoke coming from the interior of the building in the 1700 block of West Orangethorpe Avenue. Due to the thick smoke, Orangethorpe Elementary School on nearby Brookhurst Road had to shelter in place.

Deputy Fullerton Fire Chief Jon Fugitt said the fire was successfully knocked down, and damage was isolated to the area of origin. No injuries were reported, and the cause of the fire was under investigation.

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​ Orange County Register 

Four Orange County schools win CIF-SS competitive cheer championships

• January 23, 2024

Garden Grove, Marina, Mater Dei and Santa Margarita won CIF Southern Section titles Saturday at the traditional cheer competitive championships.

The four Orange County schools won their divisions in the competition at ML King High in Riverside.

Santa Margarita won in Division 1AA, Mater Dei in Division 1A, Garden Grove in 4AA and Marina in 4A.

Marina and Mater Dei won CIF-SS traditional cheer championships for the third season in a row.

Mater Dei also won a CIF-SS title in the sport in 2019, the first year for traditional cheer competition in the CIF Southern Section.

The traditional cheer championships season continues Saturday with CIF Southern California Regional competition Saturday at Mira Costa High in Manhattan Beach.

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​ Orange County Register 

Clippers had belief, and now their potential appears limitless

• January 23, 2024

PLAYA VISTA — Tyronn Lue wanted to imagine the possibilities. Victories – lots of them, extended playoff runs and maybe even a championship. There would be no stopping the Clippers with newly acquired superstar James Harden.

“I tried to,” Lue said, before laughing at the memory.

Instead, reality stepped in before Lue and the Clippers could bask in the afterglow of lining up Harden alongside Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Russell Westbrook. Their first game together showed a dispirited and disjointed team, resulting in a loss.

Then another. And another and another two followed, throwing cold water on any dreams of instant success.

“We got off to a rough start, but I did think we had a chance to be a good team, you know,” Lue said. “(We needed) to sacrifice first with our four guys and then just understand how to play with each other.”

Once the Big Four learned each other’s intricacies and needs, combined with a heavy dose of personal sacrifice, the Clippers began winning. Westbrook went to the bench, leaving Harden as the team’s primary ball handler. George moved to a new role playing off the ball and Leonard settled for fewer touches.

Now, at the halfway point of the season, the retooled Clippers own a 27-14 record, one that has included winning streaks of nine and five games. They have won 10 of their past 12 and 24 of 31 since their 3-7 start. They sit in fourth place in the Western Conference standings, 2½ games out of first, and they speak with the confidence that they can win every game.

As proof, the Clippers have beaten some of the top teams in the league and won games in various ways with different players starring every night. For example, there was Harden’s four-point play with six seconds left to beat the Houston Rockets, Leonard’s 41 points against the Utah Jazz and George’s game-winning 3-pointer in the final seconds to secure a one-point victory over the Golden State Warriors.

Then there was Westbrook’s inspiring performance off the bench on Sunday afternoon, providing a spark that helped fuel a 22-0 run in the final five minutes to close out a 125-114 victory over the Brooklyn Nets.

“We’re just finding ways to win, and whoever it takes to win,” Lue said. “We got a lot of different ways that we can win and beat you. And like I said, PG and Kawhi didn’t have it going tonight, so James had it going, Russ had it going. And they were willing and OK to play through those guys. It wasn’t a problem.

“When you have guys that want to sacrifice like that, it means a lot to the team. And that means you’re establishing a winning culture.”

The Clippers look to take that confidence into Tuesday night’s revenge game against the Lakers (22-22), who have beaten them twice this season. The Clippers had beaten the Lakers 11 times in a row before their cross-arena rival defeated them the night before Harden’s debut.

The Clippers have been in this position before. In the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season, they were 23-12 midway through and ended up reaching the Western Conference finals. Without Leonard, who had gotten hurt in the previous round, the Clippers lost to the Phoenix Suns in six games.

This season, both George and Leonard are healthy, although Leonard missed four games because of a bruised hip.

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“When we first made the deal, we believed right away that we would be good,” Harden said.

Harden never doubted how well he would fit into the Clippers’ plans. It’s the main reason why he demanded a trade from the Philadelphia 76ers to the Clippers.

“Obviously it didn’t start off well,” Harden said. “It gave people so much to talk about in a negative way and now those people that were talking are nowhere to be found. Like, literally nowhere to be found.”

George was among those who believed right away.

“We just didn’t know if it would work or how it was going to work, but we knew we had to figure it out,” he said. “All along, we knew we would be a good team.”

A team that now can imagine a potential championship future.

​ Orange County Register 

Mother testifies 55 freeway shooter smiled at her before firing gunshot that killed 6-year-old boy

• January 23, 2024

A mother on Monday described a passenger in another vehicle smiling at her shortly before he fired the gunshot that killed her 6-year-old son during an apparent road rage confrontation on the 55 Freeway in Orange.

Joanna Cloonan, the mother of Aiden Leos, took the stand Monday in the second-degree murder trial of confessed gunman Marcus Anthony Eriz, who has acknowledged firing the gunshot that killed Leos while riding in a car driven by his girlfriend in the midst of morning rush hour traffic on May 21, 2021.

As a support dog sat at her feet in the Santa Ana courtroom, Cloonan described driving Aiden from their Costa Mesa home to Calvary Chapel Pre-School in Yorba Linda when the driver of a Volkswagen Gold SportWagen suddenly began “coming up quickly” behind her in the car pool lane of the northbound 55.

“It scared me,” Cloonan said. “They swerved out of the carpool lane and in front of my car abruptly.”

Speaking in a low voice and frequently pausing before responding to the prosecutor’s questions, Cloonan said that after cutting her off, the driver of the Volkswagen — later identified as Wynne Lee — flashed a “peace sign.”

“I didn’t want to be near these people,” Cloonan testified. “I left the carpool lane. We were next to each other. I made a gesture. And I started to merge away from them.”

Cloonan acknowledged that the “gesture” was her giving the middle finger to the driver of the Volkswagen. Cloonan said she briefly made eye contact with the man in the passenger’s seat of the Volkswagen — later identified by police as Eriz, Lee’s boyfriend — before she began merging her car into the lanes to her right.

“He looked at me and smiled, after the gesture,” Cloonan said of Eriz. “I tried to get away as much as I could.”

Moments later, Cloonan said, she heard a loud noise that she compared to “a big rock hit the car,” followed by Aiden exclaiming “Ow!” from his booster seat behind her.

“I looked behind me and his head was hanging down,” Cloonan said.

Pulling over to the side of the freeway, Cloonan said she struggled to talk to a 911 dispatcher, as the audio on her phone still was connected to her car speaker’s and she was holding onto Aiden. In 911 audio previously played in court, a hyperventilating Cloonan could be heard begging for help before repeatedly calling out “Aiden, Aiden, Aiden!”

“I put my hand over his belly, held him up to my body to try to save his life,” Cloonan said.

An off-duty law enforcement officer and later paramedics tried in vain to save Aiden. Investigators later determined that a bullet had ripped through the trunk of Cloonan’s car then traveled into Aiden’s back, through his liver and lung and piercing his heart before exiting his right abdomen.

While the others were huddled around Aiden, Cloonan described the first time she realized her boy had been shot.

“I looked at the back of my car and I saw a hole,” Cloonan said. “I asked a man ‘is that a bullet hole, is that what happened?’ and he said ‘It appears to be so.’”

The mother denied ever posing a danger to Eriz or his girlfriend.

“Did you at any point try to use your car as a weapon?” Senior Deputy District Attorney Dan Feldman asked.

“No,” Cloonan replied.

Eriz’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Randall Bethune, asked Cloonan only one question: whether she had previously told anyone about what she described happening when she allegedly caught eyes with Eriz.

“Did you tell police you recalled the passenger in the car smiling?” The defense attorney asked.

“I don’t recall,” the mother answered.

That Eriz, now 26, fired the single gunshot that killed Aiden hasn’t been disputed during his trial.

The prosecutor has argued that the shooting was a result of Eriz’s “callous and total disregard for human life,” while the defense attorney has countered that it was “a mistake, a rash decision by a young man.”

In an interrogation by investigators after his arrest that was played in court earlier Monday, Eriz quickly admitted to his role in Aiden’s death.

“We went in front of that lady, the lady came up to us and started acting hostile toward us,” Eriz told the police. “I don’t know why, I have no answer why, but I pulled out my Glock and pulled the trigger and it was gone.”

The officers spent the bulk of the hour-long interview with Eriz trying to figure out the reason why he pulled the trigger. Eriz told the officers ” I didn’t even take a second to aim, I just pointed it out (the car window) and popped it off.”

Eriz said he started carrying a gun with him during his commute “because people have been acting crazier on the freeway.” He also described struggling to explain himself when Lee got mad at him in the aftermath of the shooting.

“I didn’t have an answer,” Eriz told the investigators. “Because I’m stupid? I don’t know. I didn’t think about it. I didn’t think about the consequences.”

Eriz and Lee were arrested after a two-week manhunt. Eriz said he only learned he was responsible for the shooting a week after it occurred, and told the investigators he decided not to turn himself in because he didn’t believe Lee had done anything wrong and didn’t want her to get in trouble.

“Do you regret doing it, or do you regret being caught,” an officer asked him at one point.

“I regret doing it,” Eriz answered.

“Would you have ever turned yourself in?” the officer asked.

“I don’t know,” Eriz replied.

Eriz told the officers where to find the Volkswagen, which he had left in a grandmother’s garage, and the semi-automatic handgun, which was in a locker at the car repair shop he worked at in Highland.

Moments after the officers left the interrogation room, Eriz said softly, apparently to himself, “I’m sorry Wynne, I love you so much, I’m so sorry.”

Closing arguments in Eriz’s trial are scheduled for Wednesday. Lee — who is facing lesser charges that include being an accessory after the fact — is expected to be tried separately at a later date.

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​ Orange County Register