P.V. Girls Defeat Costa Mesa, Gain Rematch Against Brea

Since losing to Brea-Olinda High School last week in the Southern Section 3-AA finals, the Palos Verdes girls basketball team has had one thing on its mind: a rematch.

The Sea Kings will get that opportunity after easily beating Costa Mesa, 71-45, Thursday night in the semifinals of the Southern California Division III Regionals at Palos Verdes.

The victory earned Palos Verdes (29-5) a spot in the finals at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at the Sports Arena opposite top-seeded Brea-Olinda (32-0), which advanced with a 78-50 triumph over LeMoore of the Central Section.

“I don’t think we can play at this pace against Brea,” said Sea Kings Coach Wendell Yoshida, whose team lost to the Wildcats, 50-33. “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.

While the Sea Kings made 17 of 18 first-half baskets within the paint en route to a 41-19 halftime lead, smaller Costa Mesa managed to score only one of nine baskets in the key, and that came on a steal.

The Mustangs were also victimized by Palos Verdes’ full-court press in the first half, committing 11 turnovers. They 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.

“She was very tentative against Brea,” Yoshida said of Wilhite. “I told her, ‘You only have a handful of games left in your career. You can’t be tentative.’ I think she stepped out a little bit tonight.”

Center Monique Morehouse, a 6-foot-3 sophomore, dominated inside and added 17 points for the Sea Kings, while 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 and was taken out of the game in the second half by Palos Verdes’ diamond-and-one defense.

An 8-0 run at the end of the first quarter, capped by a steal and layup by Humphreys, gave Palos Verdes a 25-12 lead. From there, the Sea Kings scored the first five points of the second quarter and moved out to a 20-point lead, 39-19, late in the period.

Costa Mesa, forced to take outside shots because it was unable to penetrate Palos Verdes’ 2-3 zone, never recovered.