PREP WRAPUP : Morningside Coach Broke No Rules, Deserves a Break

Frank Scott has been an easy target this week.

The Morningside High girls basketball coach has been shot down by newspaper columnists, television reporters, coaches, parents, school administrators, the Sisters of Mercy and anyone with a righteous bone in their body.

To all of the above, I have a request: Give the man a break.

Scott committed no crime. He broke no rules.

The only thing Scott is guilty of is allowing his best player to go after a record.

In the public’s eyes, though, Scott must kick dogs and pull the wings off butterflies. “How can he sleep at night?” one person asked.

Some say what happened Wednesday at Morningside wasn’t fair. Scott had no right to allow 6-foot-5 senior center Lisa Leslie to score 101 points in the first half and publicly humiliate South Torrance.

This isn’t what high school sports are all about, some have charged.

Cry me a river.

I don’t remember anyone grieving over Morningside’s baseball team when it lost numerous games by lopsided scores last season. I don’t remember anybody getting upset when the Monarchs’ wrestling team lost to West Torrance, 61-2, last month.

But I’ve had plenty of coaches tell me what a “joke” Morningside is in these sports, especially in baseball.

I’ve heard no such complaints about the sorry state of the South Torrance girls basketball program.

It’s almost a double standard.

On one hand, you have people criticizing Morningside for being a school that can’t get its act together. On the other, you have people criticizing Morningside for displaying its superiority.

It’s a no-win situation. Especially for Scott.

Game after game, he sends his team on the court to play inferior opponents in the Ocean League. A few teams (North Torrance, West Torrance) are somewhat competitive. But, by and large, the games are decided before halftime.

In terms of preparing Morningside for the playoffs, the competition in the Ocean League does little good. The Lady Monarchs defeated Centennial, 78-44, Friday to extend their league winning streak to 86 games. They have captured eight straight league titles.

And, despite what you might think, Scott takes it easy on the rest of the league.

“In our league, we’ve held back as much as we can, and it’s tough to keep holding them back,” he said of his players. “We decided to let the girls go one game a year.”

In each of the last three years, Scott has picked one game where he allows his top player to break the school’s scoring record. In 1988, Shaunda Greene scored 61 points against El Segundo. Last season, Jo Jo Witherspoon scored 68 against South. Wednesday, it was Leslie’s turn.

In a remarkable performance, Leslie scored 49 points in the first quarter, 52 in the second and ended the half having shot 37 of 56 from the floor and 27 of 34 from the free-throw line as Morningside opened a 102-24 lead.

And she did it with four or five girls guarding her every time she got the ball, which was every time Morningside got the ball. That’s the only way anyone will be able to break the national record of 105 points set by Cheryl Miller of Riverside Poly in 1982.

That’s the way Miller set the mark. She scored all of her points in three quarters against Norte Vista with the full cooperation of her teammates.

Maybe a record achieved in that manner does lose its significance, as some have stated. I’d like to see somebody else try it. The fact is only the great players such as Miller and Leslie can dominate a game in that manner.

Understandably, South Coach Gil Ramirez and his players weren’t thrilled about it happening against them. Down to four players because of fouls and injuries, Ramirez pulled his team off the court at halftime.

Frankly, I would have done the same.

“I have sympathy for the other team,” Scott said, “but I wanted to show how good Lisa is compared to the rest.

“After this year we probably won’t go for any more records. I don’t feel that it’s worth it. It creates too many bad feelings between the schools.”

There was concern that Wednesday’s defeat would have an adverse affect on South’s players. From the way they were giggling and running around Thursday, obviously tickled with their new-found fame, I’d say the trauma has passed.

They’ll face much bigger disappointments in life.

What happened Wednesday was just a game.

A playoff between Mira Costa and Centennial for third place in the Ocean League boys basketball race was called off Saturday after it was determined that both teams could qualify for the Southern Section playoffs.

Mira Costa, a 4-A Division school, was granted the league’s No. 3 spot in the playoffs because it would have had trouble qualifying as an at-large team under the section’s new power-rating point system.

Centennial, a 3-AA school, will enter the playoffs as an at-large entry.

But before the Southern Section and Ocean League settled the matter, Mira Costa Coach Glenn Marx was looking at a potential do-or-die game. Because the Mustangs have only eight power-rating points, Marx felt they needed to defeat Centennial to have a chance at a postseason berth.

If Mira Costa (15-8) had not secured one of the league’s three guaranteed playoff spots, the Mustangs would have been in worse position than fifth-place Redondo (7-18) to gain an at-large berth in the 4-A playoffs. This is because Redondo has nine power-rating points, one more than the Mustangs.

And Mira Costa beat the Sea Hawks twice and finished four games ahead of them in the Ocean League.

Obviously, this demonstrates how the new system needs revision.

The main complaint from coaches seems to be the rule that gives teams a point for merely playing an opponent in a higher division. Mira Costa didn’t play many games against larger schools, but it has been ranked in the 4-A top 10 for several weeks.

“The only thing (the Southern Section) did wrong was put this point system in in the middle of the season,” Marx said. “If i had known this was going to be the system, I wouldn’t have scheduled Mary Star and Chadwick.”

Mary Star and Chadwick are in the 1-A Division.

Dean Crowley, Southern Section associate commissioner of athletics, said he plans to propose three changes in the power-rating point system for next season:

1) Teams would no longer get an automatic point for playing opponents in higher divisions.

2) Teams would get a point for every Southern Section win, regardless of the opponent.

3) Teams would get a point for beating a Southern Section opponent that competes at the same level or in a higher division and finishes the regular season in a top 10 poll.

“We realize we have to refine part of the system,” Crowley said.

Playoff pairings will be released today at the Southern Section office. First-round games are scheduled for Tuesday night.

Following is a list of South Bay boys teams and their playoff chances:

THEY’RE IN: Hawthorne and Leuzinger (5-AA); Bishop Montgomery and Mira Costa (4-A); Morningside, Rolling Hills, Palos Verdes and South Torrance (3-AA); St. Bernard (3-A); El Segundo, Miraleste and Serra (2-A), Chadwick (1-A).

WAIT AND SEE: Torrance (4-AA); Redondo and North Torrance (4-A), Mary Star (1-A).

SLIM AND NONE: Inglewood (5-A); West Torrance (4-A).