Southern California Regionals : Point Loma Faces Crenshaw

The Point Loma High School girls basketball team has the distinction of being San Diego’s first defending California state champion. And the Pointers will begin their quest for a second state title tonight.

Point Loma will play host to Crenshaw of Los Angeles in the first round of the CIF Southern California Regional Division 3 playoffs at 7:30.

The Pointers (25-0) were Division 2 champions last season. They switched to the larger San Digeo Section 3-A Conference before the 1984-85 school year. The results have been the same, however. The Pointers are 54-0 over the last two seasons.

Crenshaw (15-3) won the Los Angeles City 3-A championship with a 65-54 victory over Fairfax on Friday. Crenshaw controlled the tempo of the game with a full-court press.

The Cougars are led by forwards Tanya Braggs and Yolanda Kelley. Kelley had 24 points and 15 rebounds on Friday and Braggs added 20 points and 6 assists.

The Pointers will counter with their strong front line of center Terri Mann (6-1), who averaged 25.1 points per game during the regular season, and forwards Michelle Collum (5-11) and Jessica Benton (6-4).

Point Loma beat Fallbrook, 86-52, in the San Diego 3-A title game. The Pointers were led by 5-2 point guard Chanelle McCoy, who scored 33 points. Mann added 31 points and 27 rebounds.

Tonight’s winner will advance to the Southern California Regional championship game at 9 a.m. Friday at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. The California State title game will be played at 11 a.m. on March 16 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.