Crenshaw Girls, Ranked No. 1, Take Turn in the Spotlight

It is not unusual to see a Crenshaw High School basketball team atop the Times’ City Section poll this late in the season.

Normally, though, it is one of Coach Willie West’s boys’ teams, which have won four of the last five City championships. This season, though, the Cougars’ girls’ team has dominated play.

The Cougars, ranked third in the Times’ preseason poll, are 19-1, and have been ranked No. 1 for most of the season. They have defeated No. 5 Washington and No. 9 Dorsey twice each, while also picking up victories over sixth-ranked Palisades and eighth-rated Granada Hills Kennedy.

“We are a little better than I thought we would be,” said Major Dennis, Crenshaw assistant coach. “Considering that we have a relatively small team, we have been pretty successful.”

The Cougars, whose only loss was to second-ranked Carson, feature a starting lineup of four seniors and a junior, with no starter taller than 5-foot-9. To compensate for their lack of height, the Crenshaw girls rely on an aggressive, hustling defense.

The catalyst of the Cougars’ defensive pressure, is senior guard Claudia (Coco) Jones, who was named most valuable player of two early-season tournaments that Crenshaw won.

“Coco can do it all,” said Dennis. “She can shoot, rebound, pass and is our best defensive player. She is one of the top players in Southern California and is the key to our team.”

The other Cougar starters are senior point guard Allison Jackson, senior center Kelly Murphy, who was named to the All-City team last season; senior forward Denease Slater, and junior forward Allerice Thompson.

In the Cougars’ loss to Carson, foul trouble and their height disadvantage were major contributing factors.

“We were our own worst enemy,” Dennis said of the 56-53 setback. “Carson played its best game and we had girls in foul trouble throughout the game. Our only girl with height is a 10th grader, Kimberly Thomas, who comes off the bench with Trinita Ross, who’s our best jumper.”

With the playoffs approaching, the Cougars are hoping to avoid an early-round setback. Last season, they lost at Wilmington Banning in the quarterfinals.

“It is going to take a team with height and that can shoot well to beat us,” Dennis said. “Of course we can’t look past any team, but I feel if we get the early playoff games at home, we should do real well.”

Four years ago, Cathedral High, an all-boys school in Los Angeles, was on the brink of being closed, but managed to stay open.

Its basketball program’s future looked dim when the school decided to not enroll any freshmen for the 1984-85 school year. The Phantoms, however, are far from dead. In fact, they have become a force in the Santa Fe League.

Last season, Cathedral won the league title under first-year Coach Mike Miller. The Phantoms also made it to the Southern Section 1A Division semifinals, losing to eventual champion Beaumont, 51-46.

This season was supposed to be a rebuilding year for Miller, since the Phantoms lost their top two scorers from last season to graduation. But instead of starting over, Cathedral is two victories away from its second straight league title.

“The kids have found out that hard work leads to success,” said Miller, who at 24, is one of the youngest coaches in the Southern Section. “They liked the idea of winning and that has helped raise their self-esteem, which is all they needed.”

As the Phantoms (16-4 overall) sit atop the league standings with an 8-1 mark, they are doing it with a starting lineup composed of four sophomores and a senior.

“Only one of our top 10 players is a senior,” said Miller. “This year’s senior class at Cathedral, was the class that would not have existed. There are about 35 seniors total in school, so that is a big reason why we do not have many seniors on the team.”

For Miller, though, it is a good thing that his only starting senior is 5-11 guard Louis Fuentes.

“He is our leader,” Miller said. “Louis is averaging 10 assists a game while scoring 13 points a game from his point guard position.”

The Phantoms’ top scorer and rebounder is 6-1 sophomore Randy Horn, who is averaging 16.3 points and 9.2 rebounds a game.

“People are going to hear a lot about him before he is through,” Miller said. “He is just a 16-year old sophomore, who is going to improve.”

Another key player for the Phantoms, is 5-9 junior forward Steve Arellano, who averages 13 points and 7 rebounds a game.

With league games remaining against second-place Cantwell of Montebello and El Segundo, Miller is proud of his young team’s accomplishments this season.

“The credit all should go to the kids,” he said. “They are extremely hard workers and they have had to put up with a lot of stuff.”

Banning High, defending Southern Section 2-A Division champion, broke the Southern Section record for consecutive league victories and tied the state record, with a 100-48 rout of Temecula Valley last Friday night for its 83rd straight Sunkist League win.

The Broncos, who started their streak in 1977, broke Oxnard Santa Clara’s 24-year-old mark and tied San Anselmo Sir Francis Drake’s three-year mark. Banning (17-4) can break the state mark Wednesday with a victory over Lake Arrowhead’s Rim of the World High School.

More Streaks: Another streak still going strong is Hesperia Christian’s. The Patriots stretched their home-floor streak to 70 with a 63-58 victory over Hemet Baptist Christian Friday night. The Patriots are 10-0 at home this season.

Granada Hills Kennedy’s girls’ basketball team stretched its City streak to 118 league wins last Friday with a 71-64 victory over El Camino Real of Woodland Hills.

The National Football Foundation Hall of Fame banquet will be held Thursday at 6:30 p.m., at the Registry Hotel in Universal City.

Among the high school football players in consideration for this year’s scholar-athlete award are offensive lineman Bob Whitfield of Wilmington Banning and defensive back Jimmy Klein of L.A. Loyola.

Letters of intent: Wednesday is the first day high school seniors can sign college letters of intent for football.