Girls’ basketball: Moore is often less, but not this year

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Oftentimes, it seems the Moore League is in the highest division in the Southern Section -- think football, for example -- because of Long Beach Poly.

The Jackrabbits are good, and raise the whole level of the league up to elite status regardless of how good anyone else in the league has been.

That has happened in girls’ basketball, too, but it’s certainly not the case this season. Three Moore League teams are among the eight quarterfinalists, which take place Saturday.

Top-seeded Long Beach Poly (23-2), which has the luxury of leaning on Rutgers-bound Jasmine Dixon, will play Wilson (14-14) in one Southern Section Division I-AA quarterfinal. They played each other twice during league. Poly won the first game, taking a 14-1 lead in the first quarter en route to a 46-39 victory. Then, in the second game, the Jackrabbits rolled, 54-23. You’ve got to like Poly’s chances to make it three in a row. It would have been interesting to see Wilson against one of the other teams still remaining.

A game that figures to be far more competitive is second-seeded Millikan (25-3) against Santa Margarita (23-4). Led by Courtney Clements, Millikan has a victory this season over Poly, the only Southland team to beat the Jackrabbits over the last two seasons. Santa Margarita is no Poly, but it does have home-court advantage, and that ought to be worth a few points. Whether it will be worth enough to make a difference -- well, I’m thinking Clements, Ashley Mitchell and Kalena Tutt can make up the difference. Millikan has outscored its first two opponents, 165-72.

But I’m guessing it will be a terrific game.

-- Martin Henderson