Final Buzzer Sounds for Loyola, Morningside, Palos Verdes : Dreams at End for Girl Cagers in Finals

It was not supposed to happen. Morningside, the state’s top-ranked team, also ranked third nationally, was not supposed to lose to Oakland’s Fremont High in Saturday’s Division I girls’ basketball state final.

What a nightmare for Morningside Coach Frank Scott, who earlier said this has been a dream season.

“It’s been a long season,” Scott said. “We’ve played a lot of games and these starters have put in a lot of minutes.”

Palos Verdes Coach Wendell Yoshida was equally disappointed as the Sea Kings dropped a 52-49 game to Grant of Sacramento in the girls Division II finals.

“We just had a poor effort on the defensive boards,” said Yoshida. “We did a poor job of blocking off.”

Shaunda Greene, Morningside’s highest scorer (26 points a game) and star player, knows about putting in time. She usually plays 32 minutes of solid basketball, unless the Monarchs have a blowout on their hands and Scott gives her a rest.

But on Saturday Greene was forced to sit with 1:03 left in the game. At that point she fouled out, which hurt Morningside’s inside attack (33-2) and contributed greatly to the Lady Monarchs’ 53-52 loss.

“It was me,” Greene said after the game. “I knew what I was doing. I just made stupid fouls. I guess I was just too anxious.”

The 6-foot senior ended the evening with 15 points, seven rebounds and four steals, despite getting plenty of elbow action from Fremont’s toughest player, 6-foot forward Debra Davis, who scored a game-high 17 points and had 10 rebounds.

While Green’s performance on Saturday may seem good to some, it was her lowest scoring game in the playoffs. The two-time All-American forward has scored in the 20s since postseason play began.

Against Lynwood last week, when the Monarchs won the Southern Section Regional title, Green scored a game-high 21 points and pulled down 14 rebounds. And when Morningside won the CIF Southern Section title against Lynwood on March 5, she scored 25 points and collected 10 rebounds.

When Morningside’s 6-foot-5 center Lisa Leslie has fouled out, it has always been Greene that has picked up the slack and kept the Lady Monarchs’ inside game alive. It happened in both playoff games against Lynwood, which is the state’s second-ranked team. Leslie fouled out and Greene made up for it with solid performances.

“She’s going to be real tough to replace,” Scott said. “When we’ve needed the tough points, she’s always gotten them for us.”

Greene, who is lauded by many college basketball coaches, hasn’t decided where she’ll play next year. USC is a possibility.

USC Coach Linda Sharp would love to add Greene to her roster. Before the basketball season even started Sharp said of Greene: “I think she’s the best athlete to come out of L. A. in a long time.”

Despite Saturday’s disappointment, Greene is a part of Morningside’s best team ever, and she said she was satisfied with her high school career.