Girl Cagers Stay On Pathway to Victory : Los Altos Falls to Palos Verdes in Division Playoffs

The second time around translates into a first for the Palos Verdes High girls basketball team, which, by virtue of its 62-48 victory over Los Altos on Thursday night, will play in the Southern California Division II regional finals Saturday afternoon at the Sports Arena.

The Sea Kings will play San Pasqual at 2:45 p.m. for the right to advance to the state finals March 19 in Oakland.

Palos Verdes had never won a Southern Section 3-A title until last weekend when the Sea Kings edged Los Altos, 52-47, in the first meeting of the season between the teams.

Palos Verdes jumped out to a big lead in the first game last Friday but Los Altos scratched back and made the contest close.

Thursday evening at Palos Verdes, the Sea Kings again forged a big lead but this time refused to let the Conquerors back into the contest.

“Playing them one time before, we knew what to prepare for,” said Palos Verdes Coach Wendell Yoshida. “It looked much better the second around. We didn’t change much. We were just better prepared.”

And more rested. While Los Altos was beating Fallbrook in the quarterfinal round this week, the Sea Kings were preparing their game plan, courtesy of a forfeit by Mt. Whitney of Visalia.

“Yes, the rest did help,” Yoshida admitted. “We were able to practice, to scout and they had to play another game. But we didn’t change much, just moved a couple of players around.”

One of Yoshida’s best moves was bringing sophomore Mary Maloney off the bench in the first quarter. Maloney replaced Heidi Burge, who had picked up two fouls, and finished with 16 points, six on rebounds in the first half.

“The coach just tells us to play our game,” Maloney said. “And I was just in the right place at the right time. We did pretty much what we wanted to do. Everybody was doing their job.”

Yoshida said he had a premonition about Maloney: “She practiced good all week. We felt very good about sending Mary in and she sparked us.”

Palos Verdes (26-7) got the first bucket from Heather Burge and never looked back. The Sea Kings were in control throughout, although Los Altos (21-5) made it interesting toward the end with three-point shooting.

Susan Peters led the Conquerors with 18 points. Teammate Staci Louie made four three-point baskets.

Heather Burge finished with 20 points and six rebounds while twin Heidi ended with 11. Point guard Susan Wilhite scored nine for the Sea Kings.