For Washington’s Chase, It’s All Relative

You can excuse Washington High School girls’ basketball Coach Phil Chase if he is not looking ahead to next season, when he will be without the cousin combination of Detra Lockhart and Remitha (Missa) Houston.

For the last six years, Chase has has had the opportunity to coach them from their early summer-league days through their high school years. Last season, Lockhart and Houston helped the Generals win the City 4-A Division championship and advance to the State Southern Regional semifinals.

“I have coached them since they were 11 or 12 years old,” Chase said. “They played on a summer team I coached that represented Southern California in a national AAU tournament.”

This season, with Lockhart averaging 18 points a game and Houston scoring nearly 16, Washington is again the best girls’ team in the City with a 13-2 record, having won the Los Angeles Invitational tournament Saturday with a 73-32 victory over Dorsey.

The Generals’ only losses this season have come in tournament finals against defending State champions Morningside and Brea-Olinda.

Lockhart and Houston, both 17, actually are more like sisters than cousins. Houston has lived with the Lockhart family since 1980, after her mother died in an automobile accident.

“We are very close,” Lockhart said. “We have always been together since elementary school.”

But as close as the cousins have become, their personalities are completely different.

Houston is outgoing and loves to talk; Lockhart is more reserved and somewhat shy.

But on the basketball court, they express themselves in a similar fashion. Whether it’s a back yard pickup game or a tournament final, they have had success.

“We have always played on the same team, even in games against relatives and neighbors,” Lockhart said. “And, we have always played on winning teams.”

Said Chase: “They are the perfect guard tandem. Missa is the dynamic shooting guard. Just when you are about to explode from being upset at her, she will do something wonderful.

“Then, Detra is the mature type. She has been that way since she was 12. She’s just a great athlete who has a whole lot of character.”

Lockhart is a two-time All-City selection in both basketball and softball. Last season she averaged 17.6 points and 4.9 assists, then batted over .500 as a shortstop on the softball team.

Despite praise from Chase, Lockhart sees many faults in her game.

“There are a lot of things I need to work on,” she said. “People say that I am quick, but I need to get faster, and I also need to improve on my shooting. I like to shoot, but I don’t think that I am a good shooter.”

With the emergence of sophomore Charrisse Sampson, who is averaging 18.3 points and 16.8 rebounds, Houston is averaging about five fewer points than last season.

“Missa hasn’t been doing as well this season, but her role has changed. As a team, we have been getting the ball inside to Sampson more,” Chase said.

“I’m just in a slump,” Houston said about her shooting. “But I am a better player than I used to be. Before, I never played defense or passed.”

With Lockhart wanting to stay close to home and Houston ready to travel, their days of playing together may come to an end once they begin their college careers.

But before that happens, the cousins have some business to take care of this season as the Generals seek to repeat as City champions.

The University of Washington defeated Florida, 34-7, Saturday in the Freedom Bowl game at Anaheim Stadium.

To call Southern California the Huskies’ home away from home is not so far-fetched, as the victory gave Washington a 2-1 record in the Southland this season. The Huskies defeated UCLA at the Rose Bowl and lost to USC at the Coliseum.

Perhaps the biggest reason the Huskies were comfortable when they traveled south was that there were 22 Southern California players on their roster.

“We really recruit hard in the Southern California area,” said Dick Baird, Washington’s recruiting director. “We send four of our nine coaches down here just to recruit this area alone.”

On this year’s team there are four defensive starters who graduated from Southern California high schools--Dennis Brown of Long Beach Jordan, Le-Lo Lang of Los Angeles Jordan, Dana Hall of Ganesha and Eugene Burkhalter of Long Beach Poly.

Going into the Freedom Bowl, 15 area players were listed on the Huskies’ two-deep chart, including a pair of standout freshmen in Tommie Smith of Antelope Valley, who was a backup rover, and Beno Bryant of Dorsey, who led the team in kickoff returns this season.

Many of Washington’s Southland recruits are skill-position players.

“We don’t have the element of speed in the Northwest area, but we do have strong linemen-types,” Baird said. “So we look for players here to increase the speed factor.

“We don’t hit the area as hard as Colorado, but we are successful. We don’t always get the marquee player but we do get good ones.”

Washington became the winningest team in the Pacific 10 Conference in the 1980s with an 84-34-2 record.

Prep Notes

Bruce Walker, a 6-foot-4, 240-pound linebacker from Compton Dominguez, was the only local selection in the National Prep Poll All-American team. Walker, quarterback J.J. O’Laughlin of Glendora, receiver Jeremy Smith of La Puente Bishop Amat and tight end Elic Mahone of Pasadena Muir were area selections on Max Emfinger’s All-American team.

The Los Angeles basketball tournament championship game between Manual Arts and Fremont will be played today at the Forum at 2 p.m.

TIMES’ BASKETBALL POLLS

BOYS

CITY

No., School, League Record 1. Manual Arts, Metro-4A 10-3 2. Fairfax, Western-4A 12-2 3. Fremont, Central-3A13-2 4. Dorsey, Southern-4A 10-4 5. Cleveland, North Valley-4A 10-3 6. Crenshaw, Southern-4A 10-3 7. Carson, Pacific-4A 10-5 8. Washington, Southern-4A 6-4 9. North Hollywood, Mid Valley-3A 12-1 10. Westchester, Western-4A 8-5

SOUTHERN SECTION

No., School, League Record 1. Artesia, Suburban-4A 10-1 2. Mater Dei, Angelus-5A 12-1 3. L.B. Poly, Moore-5AA 10-2 4. Lynwood, San Gabriel Valley-5AA 14-1 5. Loyola, Del Rey-5A 7-3 6. Morningside, Ocean-3AA 9-3 7. San Bernardino, San Andreas-5AA 12-1 8. St. Monica, Camino Real-5AA 7-4 9. Santa Clara, Frontier-2AA 10-0 10. Edison, Sunset-4AA 12-2 11. Brea-Olinda, Orange-3AA 11-3 12. Cajon, San Andreas-5A 11-1 13. Compton, Moore, 4AA 10-3 14. Mission Viejo, South Coast-4AA 8-3 15. Redlands, Citrus Belt-5AA 9-3

Note--Girls rankings next week.