Chris Brisco has been a varsity and junior varsity boys basketball coach at Point Loma High long enough to know what he thinks the Pointers need to turn around the program.

“We're starting with the kids, the youth programs,” said Brisco, who was named the varsity head coach after Dave Aros stepped down at the end of last season.

For starters, the Pointers, who last appeared in a section title game in 1997, have been shifted from the deep Eastern League to the Central, where they are expected to be more competitive.

Additionally, Brisco will be drawing on JV players he coached the past three years, winning the league title the past two.

“The challenge, as it was for Coach Aros, is to get the players to go hard all the time,” said Brisco, who played two years for Point Loma Nazarene before graduating in 1990. “Basketball is a year-round sport now. We have a lot of ninth-and 10th-graders in the program and we hope they mix well with the senior and juniors.”

The Pointers finished 5-20 last season.

Softball honors

High school seniors Lisa Akamine of Escondido, Courtney Craig of El Camino and Trina Harrison of Oceanside have been selected first-team all-state by CalHiSports.com.

Akamine, who will attend Penn State, was 13-1 with a 0.20 ERA. Craig (University of Texas) hit .447 with 11 home runs. Harrison (Cal State Fullerton) tied the San Diego Section season record with 17 home runs while setting a section career mark with 41.

Seniors Rachel Brown of Scripps Ranch and Jessica McDermott of Mt. Carmel and sophomores Jenny Lahitte of Granite Hills and Kellie Fox of Mt. Carmel received second-team honors.

Other awards:

First-team all-underclassmen – Lahitte and Fox.

Second-team all-underclassmen – sophomore Lorena Klopp of Steele Canyon, junior Ashley Lane of Escondido and junior Amanda Carpenter of Santana.

All-state medium schools – Klopp, Carpenter and senior Britty Balough of Santana.

All-state small schools – senior Kelly Majam of Mountain Empire and junior Amye McIntyre of Francis Parker.

The next step

Mission Bay senior Charles Jock, state champion in the 800 meters, has accepted a track scholarship to UC Irvine.

Jock won the state title with a time of 1:51.64, breaking a school record set by 1957 state champ Jim Cerveny. Jock then went 1:50.66 in finishing second at the Nike Nationals in North Carolina.