HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL FINALS : Division I Girls : Mt. Carmel and Santana, Not Point Loma, to Play in Championship Game

The first thing you’ll probably notice when the teams take the floor for tonight’s Division I girls’ basketball championship in the Sports Arena is that Point Loma High School will be absent.

The Pointers, who made winning the San Diego Section title a tradition on their way to four consecutive state championships, were eliminated from this season’s playoffs.

And so, though at times it seemed as if it might never come to this, the opportunity has finally arrived for a new team to ascend to Point Loma’s throne.

Either Mt. Carmel, which surprised Point Loma in the semifinals, or Santana, which took away Point Loma’s No. 1 ranking for at least part of the regular season, will become the San Diego Section’s new champion tonight.

Santana (25-1) beat Mt. Carmel (23-4) earlier this season, 58-54, but that was well before the Sundevils shocked everybody by dismissing the old champion, 55-38, Tuesday night.

“For the last several years,” Mt. Carmel Coach Peggy Brose said. “All any of our teams could play for was the right to face Point Loma in the finals.”

Because of the Pointers’ dominance, several solid girls’ programs have been unable to earn much recognition the last few seasons. Mt. Carmel and Santana fall into that category.

Mt. Carmel reached the semifinals the last two seasons but both times was eliminated by the Pointers. Santana was a semifinalist last season but lost to Vista.

“We’ve had success, but nobody knows about it,” Santana Coach Wade Vickery said. “This championship game will give both of our schools a chance to show everyone what we are capable of doing.”

One thing the teams can do is score. Santana is the highest-scoring girls’ team in the county and Mt. Carmel is ranked No. 2.

Mt. Carmel likes to run and get baskets inside before opposing defenses can set up. Center Lynda Jones averages a little more than 17 points per game and is the hub of the Sundevil attack.

Jones had 21 points against Point Loma, as Mt. Carmel’s quick guards, Tracy Stowe and Megan Sixt continually broke the Pointers’ full-court pressure and worked the ball inside.

Santana will test Mt. Carmel with the same type of pressure defense, one that forced 35 turnovers by Vista in the Sultans’ 50-40 semifinal victory Tuesday night.

Santana is led in scoring by its center, senior Leslie Ellis (21 points per game), although she gets help from senior forward Barb Bennett (15.5) and sophomore guard Rebecca Aase (15.0).

Santana also has history on its side. The last team to win a Division I San Diego Section girls title besides Point Loma was Santana in 1984.