San Diego Prep Review / Steve Scott : Morse Works Overtime to Keep Perfect Mark

At the midway point of City Eastern League play, Morse High School’s basketball team has escaped with an unblemished record. Not bad, considering Morse’s five City East counterparts have spent time in The Times’ Top 10 this season.

No. 3 Morse played host to No. 4 Serra Friday with a share of the league’s top spot at stake. Serra, which won its first 11 games, took Morse to overtime on a 25-footer by Steve Smith with five seconds left in regulation.

Morse (5-0, 13-3) prevailed in overtime, 69-64, and has a commanding two-game lead. Unless the Tigers suffer a total collapse, they should win the league.

The focus of the City East, the county’s best league, has shifted to the second playoff berth. Serra (3-2) has the early lead. Point Loma and Mira Mesa are tied at 2-3. Patrick Henry, which lost to Serra in overtime Tuesday, is 1-4.

Add Morse: If Serra proved Friday that it could play with Morse, Morse proved it could play well with the game on the line. After making three of eight from the foul line during regulation, Morse was 10 of 11 in overtime.

Making them count: Nobody can blame Melissa Williamson for running up her individual scoring total unnecessarily Friday. Williamson scored 40 points, 29 in the second half, to lead the Clairemont girls’ basketball team to a 52-46 win against University City.

Clairemont trailed, 15-4, after one quarter and, 30-19, at halftime. Williamson scored 17 of Clairemont’s 18 points in the third quarter as it cut University City’s lead to 38-37.

Add girls: Monte Vista’s Paula Mascari continues to lead the county’s girls in scoring. The 5-foot 6-inch senior forward is averaging 26.1 points per game. Mascari is followed by Point Loma’s Terri Mann (25.7), Southwest’s Michelle Wilkes (21.5), Madison’s Lisa Glassford (20.9) and Point Loma’s Chanelle McCoy (20.0).

Top prospects: San Diego County players Terry Rodgers and Sal Aunese have been rated among the nation’s top 100 football prospects by Max Emfinger’s National High School Scouting Service, which is based in Houston.

The honor adds to Rodgers’ list of postseason awards. The Sweetwater tailback was named Times’ Back of Year and Cal-Hi Sports Magazine’s Player of the Year. Rodgers rushed for 1,732 yards last season and 3,764 in his career.

Aunese, the Times’ All-County quarterback, led Vista to the San Diego Section 3-A Conference title last season. Noted mostly as a running quarterback, Aunese rushed for 936 yards and 20 touchdowns last season. Aunese was ranked 27th by the service and Rodgers was 32nd.

Small schools join CIF: St. Steven’s Christian and Clairemont Christian, two private Christian schools, were granted membership into the San Diego Section CIF last week in a vote by the Board of Managers.

St. Stevens, which has an estimated enrollment of 35, and Clairemont Christian, with an estimated 85, plan to field sports teams and will be allowed to play other Section schools in 1-A Conference. The schools’ sports and opponents have yet to be determined.