SOUTHERN SECTION BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES : Girls’ 4-A : Greene, Leslie Lead Morningside to 60-55 Win

Shaunda Greene scored 25 points and Lisa Leslie added 21 as Inglewood Morningside, The Times’ No.1-ranked Southern Section team all season, outlasted Lynwood, 60-55, to win the girls’ 4-A title before 2,263 fans Friday night at Cal Poly Pomona.

Greene, a 5-foot 11-inch forward selected as All-Southern Section last season, took over when 6-5 Leslie, the Lady Monarchs’ high-scoring sophomore center, fouled out with 4:32 remaining.

Greene scored six consecutive points to give Morningside a 57-50 lead with 1:25 remaining and had 4 of her 10 rebounds in the final quarter. Leslie also finished with 10 rebounds.

Lynwood led by two, 40-38, at the end of the third quarter, but Leslie, who scored 11 in the quarter, tied the game on the first shot of the fourth quarter.

Morningside (30-1), which advanced to the Division I Southern Regional, outscored Lynwood, 11-4, in a span of three minutes late in the fourth quarter.

Natasha Norris scored 18 points for Lynwood (28-4), while Trise Jackson added 16 and sophomore Linda Watson had 13.

The two quickest teams in the Southern Section began the game with four consecutive turnovers, two each. Morningside could manage only eight points in the first quarter, Greene and Leslie scoring four each.

Lynwood led at halftime, 28-25, after leading by as many as 9 in the second quarter. The surprise was in the inside play of Norris, who scored 12 points in the half.

Greene scored 13 and Leslie added 8 in the first half for the Lady Monarchs, who expected to have the advantage inside.

Watson and Jackson scored seven each in the half for Lynwood.

The game was the third between the two teams this season. In a span of less than a week in December, Morningside beat Lynwood for the championship of the Artesia tournament. Lynwood then came back to beat Morningside in the championship game of the Lady Monarchs’ own tournament.