SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA REGIONAL PREP BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : Girls’ Roundup : Watson, Norris Lift Lynwood Past Westchester

Sophomore forward Linda Watson scored 20 points and center Natasha Norris added 17 to lead Lynwood to a 66-57 win over Westchester in the Division I Southern Regional girls’ basketball semifinals Thursday night at Cal State Dominguez Hills, setting up a rematch between the Lady Knights and Southern Section 4-A champion Inglewood Morningside.

Morningside beat Lynwood, 60-55, a week ago to win the 4-A title.

Lynwood (30-4) opened a 30-21 lead midway through the second quarter behind the shooting of Watson, who was 4 for 4 from three-point range in the first half.

The Lady Knights extended the lead to 48-31 in the third quarter, outscoring Westchester 8-0 in one stretch. Norris scored 6 of Lynwood’s 8 points in the spurt.

Lynwood limited high-scoring center Trisha Stafford to 2 field goals, but Stafford made 16 free throws and finished with 20 points and 14 rebounds. USC-bound guard Tammy Story added 19 points and 12 rebounds.

Westchester, the City 4-A champion, finished 22-3.

Morningside 76, Hanford 45--The Southern Section 4-A champion Monarchs outscored Hanford, 22-2, in the third quarter of the regional semifinal at Morningside.

Lisa Leslie, a 6-5 sophomore center, scored 12 of her 22 points during the third quarter for Morningside (32-1). Leslie also had 10 rebounds and 11 blocked shots.

Hanford, the Central Section Division I champion, finishes 25-2.

Palos Verdes 62, Los Altos 48--In a rematch of the Southern Section 3-A final, Mary Maloney came off the bench to score 16 points, and the Burge twins, Heather and Heidi, combined for 31 points to lead Palos Verdes to the win at home. Susan Peters scored 18 points for Los Altos.

Chowchilla 58, Cerritos Valley Christian 57--Sheri Brown scored on a layup with 22 seconds remaining to give Chowchilla the win in the Division IV semifinal game at Cerritos High.

Tonya Zwagerman had 17 points Valley Christian (26-3).