Prep Wrapup / Rob Fernas : 2 Best South Bay Girls’ Basketball Teams Won’t Meet

One of the great injustices of the prep basketball season, at least from a fan’s standpoint, is that the powerful girls’ teams from Morningside and Palos Verdes will not meet.

Because they play in different leagues and are classified in different CIF playoff divisions, there is no chance that the two best girls’ teams in the South Bay can settle the question of “Who’s No. 1?”

Instead, both teams are making a mockery of their respective leagues.

Morningside, the top-rated Division I team in California, improved to 17-1 overall and 7-0 in the Ocean League this week with lopsided wins over South Torrance, 106-29, and Centennial, 90-32.

But the scores don’t tell the whole story.

In Wednesday’s game with South, Morningside Coach Frank Scott made senior guard Jo Jo Witherspoon the DS (designated scorer) in an attempt to break the school single-game record. Witherspoon easily set the record with 69 points, scoring 49 by half-time and sitting out most of the fourth quarter.

Scott said afterward that he is going to let junior center Lisa Leslie set the record next year.

Palos Verdes, meanwhile, twice managed to break the school record for most points scored in a game.

The Sea Kings, ranked No. 1 in the Southern Section 4-A Division, first set the mark Thursday in a 102-17 win over Beverly Hills, then eclipsed it Friday night with a 107-22 whipping of rival Rolling Hills. Those games came on the heels of Tuesday’s 71-27 romp over Inglewood.

Palos Verdes’ three-game total score this week: 280-66.

As usual, 6-4 twins Heidi and Heather Burge did most of the damage for the Sea Kings. Heidi averaged 31.7 points over the three games, and Heather, coming back after missing three games because of illness, scored 33 against Beverly Hills and 20 against Rolling Hills.

Palos Verdes is 15-3 overall and 7-0 in league play.

Actually, Morningside and Palos Verdes did have a chance to meet earlier this season. Both were entered in the Santa Barbara Tournament, but Palos Verdes lost in the semifinals to Southern High of Louisville, Ky., and Morningside lost to Southern in the final.

Neither Morningside nor Palos Verdes has lost to a team from California.

With its two Ocean League victories this week, Morningside’s girls extended their league winning streak to 65 games, good for fourth place on the all-time Southern Section list.

With two more wins next week against North Torrance and Redondo, the Lady Monarchs will tie Bishop Diego for third place.

Riverside Poly holds the record with 97 consecutive league wins from 1978-85 during the era of Cheryl Miller, followed by San Gabriel with 80 from 1979-86.

Morningside’s streak started in 1982.

Boys’ basketball teams in the Bay, Ocean and Camino Real leagues have some chasing to do at the halfway point of the season.

Rolling Hills (Bay), Morningside (Ocean) and St. Bernard (Camino Real) have each opened up two-game leads heading into the second round of league play.

Can they be caught?

“I don’t know if anyone can catch (Rolling Hills) or not, but I think it will be a great game with Inglewood and a great game at our place,” Torrance Coach Carl Strong said Thursday night, after his team suffered an 85-76 loss at Rolling Hills.

The first-place Titans benefited from a favorable schedule in the first round of Bay League play, facing three of the top challengers--Beverly Hills, Inglewood and Torrance--at home. Rolling Hills now has to play those teams on the road.

“We had all the advantages in the first round,” said Rolling Hills Coach Cliff Warren. “The second round will be completely different. Our players know they have to improve.”

Rolling Hills leads the league with a 7-0 mark, followed by Torrance and Inglewood (both 5-2) and then Beverly Hills and Leuzinger (both 4-3).

Leuzinger might be the team to watch in the second round. After starting out 0-3, the young Olympians have won four straight.

In the Ocean League, Morningside appears headed for its fifth league title in the last six years after completing the first round with a 7-0 record.

The Monarchs are in an advantagious position, playing host to second-place Redondo (6-1) and third-place Centennial (5-2) in the second round after easily beating those teams on the road.

St. Bernard, led by the inspired play of 6-11 center Ed Stokes, appears in good shape in the Camino Real League with a 6-0 mark and a two-game bulge over St. Monica and St. Anthony (both 4-2). Moreover, St. Bernard will play host to St. Monica, which gave the Vikings their toughest first-round game.

Westchester ventures into the thick of the Metro League basketball race this week, playing host to Fairfax on Wednesday and then traveling to meet unbeaten Manual Arts on Friday.

Westchester (12-3 overall) and Manual Arts are each 5-0 in the Coastal Conference, with Fairfax trailing by two games at 3-2.

Zan Mason, a 6-7 forward headed to UCLA, led four Westchester players in double figures Friday with 27 points as the Comets beat Palisades, 84-65.

Hawthorne’s track team won two relays and got a look at the team that might present the stiffest challenge to its quest for a third straight state title Friday night at the Sunkist Invitational indoor meet at the Sports Arena.

Hawthorne’s mile relay team of junior Chris Alexander, sophomore Eric Allen and seniors Kevin Gatlin and Curtis Conway won with a time of 3 minutes, 24.7 seconds, barely edging out Oakland (3:24.8), which proved it will have to be reckoned with in June.

A good start by Alexander and a strong anchor leg by Conway, the Cougars’ top sprinter, made the difference. However, the squad did not live up to the expectations of Coach Kye Courtney, who had hoped for a 3:15 time.

Hawthorne also won the 8x160 relay in 2:14.3, but the Cougars missed a chance for another victory when Conway scratched from the 60-yard dash for football players because he had not recovered from the mile relay.

The Cougar girls won the 4x160 relay in 1:14.9 and were runners-up in both the 2-mile (10:08.8) and mile (4:05.5) relays. Individually, Kesha Marvin of Hawthorne took third in the 500 (1:09.9) and teammate Rhonda Kennerson was second in the 880 (2:19.4).

Carson and Banning have played some memorable basketball games in the past, but Friday night’s Pacific League meeting was no contest.

Led by 16 points from forward Vince Washington and 15 from guard Raymond Bennett, Carson ran away from its rival, 75-56, at home. The decision left Carson with a 9-7 overall mark and 2-2 Southern-Pacific Conference record, while Banning slipped to 8-10 and 1-4.