PREP BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES : Southern Section Girls : Nos. 1 and 2 Teams Play for Title

Inglewood Morningside and Lynwood high schools, the Nos. 1 and 2 Southern Section girls’ basketball teams in The Times’ poll, will play for the third time this season tonight at 8:45 at Cal Poly Pomona, this time for the 4-A title.

As was generally predicted at the beginning of the season, four teams--Morningside, Lynwood, Santa Barbara and Buena of Ventura--have played major roles in 4-A competition.

In the semifinals, Shaunda Greene and Lisa Leslie led top-seeded Morningside over Buena, 64-60, at Ventura College, and Lynwood got past Santa Barbara at Compton College, 64-63, in overtime.

With the victory over Buena, Morningside became the only team of the top four to beat the three others this season. Morningside (29-1) beat Lynwood in the championship game of the Artesia tournament and defeated Santa Barbara in the title game of the Santa Barbara tournament of champions.

Candice Boyd’s three-point play with less than a minute remaining in overtime lifted Lynwood past Santa Barbara. Third-seeded Lynwood (28-3) also is the only team with a victory over Morningside this season, in the title game of Morningside’s tournament.

So the championship game is the third and deciding game between the two quickest girls’ teams in the Southern Section.

Both teams press, like to run the fast break and have relentless defenses. Lynwood boasts Trise Jackson, perhaps the most disruptive defensive player in the Southern Section, and one of the quickest.

An All-Southern Section first-team selection at guard last season as a junior, Jackson drives to the hoop relentlessly, is good for 19 points a game, and moves like a hummingbird on defense.

Complementing Jackson is Boyd, the other guard, also an unnerving player on defense. Swing player Linda Watson, a sophomore, is a three-point threat with a long stride and elusive moves to the basket. Watson made two key second-half three-pointers in the semifinal win over Santa Barbara.

“Our biggest strength is our inside game and their biggest strength is their outside game,” Lynwood Coach Van Girard said.

Lynwood’s most important asset may be Girard. The 1986 4-A coach of the year is regarded as the section’s best by many.

However, controlling Morningside’s inside game--Greene and Leslie--will be no easy task. The two combined to average 49 points a game this season. Greene was the section’s fifth-leading scorer with 26.1 average.

Perhaps Leslie, a 6-foot 5-inch sophomore center, will be the difference this time. In the past, Girard’s style has been to go right at the shot-blocking specialist and get her into foul trouble.

“But now, she’s playing more carefully and I think Lisa isn’t getting into the foul trouble like she has,” Girard said. “We’ll still go at her.”

3-A

Neither Palos Verdes nor Los Altos of Hacienda Heights, the 3-A finalists, were supposed to make it this far, but look at the personnel on both teams and the reasons for the results are clear.

Palos Verdes boasts true twin towers, Heather and Heidi Burge, 6-4 identical twins who dominate the Sea Kings’ scoring and rebounding. The Burges, plus the first-round upset elimination of the Nos. 2 and 3 seeded teams from the Sea Kings’ bracket, paved the way for Palos Verdes, the Bay league champion with a 23-8 record.

Los Altos (20-3), a surprise team, came down a more difficult road, beating Ivy League champion J.W. North of Riverside in the second round, top-seeded Brea-Olinda in the quarterfinals and Capistrano Valley in the semifinals.

Center Susan Peters has been the star, averaging more than 25 points a game. Peters, among the Southern Section leaders in scoring, has scored 45 points in one game this season.

Helping out the 5-11 Peters in the front court is 5-11 Susan Sussove. Point guard Kecia Watari gives Los Altos another asset.

2-A

The 2-A title game, matching Irvine Woodbridge against last season’s finalist, Chino, is the second game of a doubleheader tonight at Cerritos College.

Cerritos Valley Christian and Oxnard Santa Clara will play for the 1-A title at 7, and the 2-A game will follow at 8:45.

Chino (22-6) will be playing in its third straight 2-A final. Chino won in 1986, then lost to Lompoc last season, 61-57. This season, Chino did not win the Hacienda League title and was not among the top four seeded teams.

Chino is led by Serena Murillo, a senior forward, and Felicia Franke, a junior center. Murillo had 21 points and Franke 14 in the Cowboys’ win over Arroyo Grande in the semifinals Tuesday.

Woodbridge (25-5) is making its first championship appearance. Woodbridge’s tallest player is 5-9 junior center Angie Hubner, but a fast-breaking offense and a swarming pressure defense tend to make up for the lack of height.

In the quarterfinals, Woodbridge, also unseeded, rallied from an 11-point deficit in the third quarter to beat St. Mary’s of Inglewood, 64-61. Against Ontario in the semifinals, Woodbridge fell behind--this time by 10--in the third quarter before taking a 51-49 overtime win.

Kathy Millat, a senior forward, is averaging 16 points a game for Woodbridge.

1-A

Valley Christian (24-2), the defending 1-A champion and top-ranked team in the division since early in the season, had a tough test from previously unbeaten Santa Ynez in the semifinals but won, 67-60.

Santa Clara (21-6) may be equally tough. Santa Clara got past 1987 nemesis Morro Bay in the quarterfinals before beating Banning in the semifinals.

SMALL SCHOOLS

League rivals Lone Pine (11-9) and Trona (20-4) will play for the Small Schools’ division title tonight at Bishop High at 7:30.

Each team finished 8-2 in the Desert-Inyo league. Trona beat Lone Pine at Trona, 51-41, then Lone Pine, on its home court, beat Trona by nearly the same margin, 42-30.