Costa Mesa Falls to Palos Verdes

The Palos Verdes High School girls’ basketball team earned a rematch with Brea-Olinda by defeating Costa Mesa, 71-45, in the semifinals of the Southern California Division III Regionals.

The victory earned Palos Verdes (29-5) a spot in the final at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at the Sports Arena opposite top-seeded Brea-Olinda (32-0), which advanced by defeating Lemoore, 78-50.

Brea defeated Palos Verdes, 50-33, last week in the Southern Section 3-AA final.

“I don’t think we can play at this pace against Brea,” said Palos Verdes Coach Wendell Yoshida. “We have to take the ball inside and drive to the basket aggressively.”

Palos Verdes did that quite nicely against Costa Mesa (18-12), the Southern Section 3-A champion.

Palos Verdes made 17 of 18 first-half baskets in the lane en route to a 41-19 halftime lead, Costa Mesa managed to score only one of nine baskets in the key, and that came on a steal.

Costa Mesa also was victimized by Palos Verdes’ full-court press in the first half, committing 11 turnovers. The Mustangs finished with 17.

“Their press is very good,” Costa Mesa Coach Jim Weeks said. “And their size was just too much for us. They’re one of the top two (Division III) teams in the state. I don’t care what goes on in Oakland, whoever wins Saturday is going to win it all.”

Senior point guard Susan Wilhite led four Palos Verdes players in double figures with 21 points, most coming on driving layups.

Center Monique Morehouse, a 6-foot-3 sophomore, dominated inside and added 17 points for Palos Verdes. Guard Lisa Humphreys scored 12 and forward Mary Maloney had 10.

Center Rachel Ward led Costa Mesa with 11 points. The Mustangs’ top player, freshman guard Olivia DiCamilli, was held to eight points.