City 4-A Girls : Kennedy Takes On Washington Today

The league schedule of the Kennedy High School girls’ basketball team has been like a path through a lush meadow. The Golden Cougars have skipped along to 80 straight league wins, smelling the flowers along the way.

Always looming in the distance, however, was a foreboding obstacle, the City 4-A final. Kennedy has lost four of the last six finals, including last season’s, each time to Locke.

This year, however, the City has been un-Locked. Washington will play Kennedy in the title game at the Sports Arena today at 5:15 p.m.

Kennedy knocked off Washington last season in the semifinals, 71-52. “We haven’t forgotten that one,” Washington Coach Phil Chase said. “We’ve been waiting a full year for a rematch.”

Despite losing to the Golden Cougars last season, Chase believes that Kennedy’s light league schedule doesn’t prepare the team well for a rigorous climb through the playoffs.

“Kennedy’s easy schedule is no secret,” Chase said. “When they play teams of our caliber, it takes them awhile to adjust.”

Last week’s semifinal may have been a case in point. Kennedy (21-2) squeezed past Crenshaw, 60-53, in overtime after trailing by 11 in the first quarter. The Golden Cougars shot only 27%.

Washington (22-4), the Central League champion, easily won its semifinal over Banning, 48-31. The Generals lost league games to Fremont and Crenshaw, teams that Kennedy defeated.

Kennedy’s failure to win a title since 1981--the only year the Golden Cougars beat Locke--has made the team hungry, according to Coach Craig Raub.

“We’ve pointed to this game all season,” Raub said. “Some of our girls have been to the arena before and they would like to take home a title this time.”

The game will be between teams similar in style. Each is led in scoring by a senior guard and each is bolstered by strength in the post.

Matching up at guard will be Kennedy’s Stacy Parson, who is averaging 22.1 points and 13.2 rebounds a game, and Washington’s Ayesha Brooks, 18 points and 8.3 assists. “Stacy is a purer shooter, but Ayesha does everything else better,” Chase said.

Parson, an All-City player last season who has accepted a scholarship to Stanford, had a dismal semifinal, making only 3 of 23 shots. Still, she was the game’s leading scorer with 20 points after sinking 14 free throws.

After missing three games with a bruised bladder, Diane DeCree, Kennedy’s All-City junior forward who is averaging 17.7 points and 17.8 rebounds, returned in the second half of the semifinal to score 15 points.

Washington’s Natasha Norris, a 5-9 forward, had the flu and missed the semifinal, but Chase said she will be ready for Kennedy. Norris averages 11 points and 10 rebounds and will attempt to outmuscle DeCree.

Daynell Brown, averaging 13.1 points, and Demetra Johnson, 16.6 points and 7.5 rebounds, should also be factors for Washington.

Center Shelley Mercer has been a pleasant surprise in her first year as a starter for Kennedy, averaging 11.3 points and 11.1 rebounds.