South Girls Take Game; USC Wins in Long Run

If the box score of the “Fabulous 44” girls’ state high school all-star basketball game is any indication, the USC women’s basketball team can expect a fabulous future.

Four Trojans of the future--two from the North and two from the South--had good performances in the all-star game at UC Irvine’s Bren Center Sunday.

“I think we are going to take the NCAAs one of these years before I leave,” said Oakland Fremont’s Tracy Adams, the North’s most valuable player who will attend USC in the fall.

But it was the South that benefitted most from the potential Trojan firepower. Lisa Leslie of Inglewood Morningside High and Linda Watson of Lynwood led their team to an 81-48 trouncing of the North.

Leslie, a 6-5 center who was named the South’s most valuable player, had 20 points and seven rebounds. Watson, a 5-10 guard, made her first five shots before missing her last six. She finished with 11 points.

For the North, Christa Gannon of Newcastle Placer High scored 10, Adams had nine and Jualeah Woods of Berkeley High, another USC recruit, scored seven points.

“USC is going to have a great ballclub with them,” said North Coach Tom Campbell, who coaches Chico Pleasant Valley High. “If I was a college coach, I would love to have that South team.”

After trailing, 5-0, and, 15-4, early in the game, the North cut its deficit to two points midway through the first half when Woods beat the 30-second clock with a jump shot. But the South intensified its pressure defense, unleased its running game and went on a 16-4 run.

Leslie finished the South’s spree with a steal and a layup that gave her team a 35-21 lead with 3:30 left in the first half.

The South extended its lead to 41-23 before the half, but the North scored the first seven points of the second half while the South went the first 3:40 without scoring. The South didn’t make a field goal until 6:19 had expired in the half, but after coming within 11 points of the South, the North went almost five minutes without scoring and the South’s lead grew to 56-30 with 12:10 remaining. The North never challenged after that.

Although it wasn’t an especially competitive contest, the game, the first statewide all-star game for girls in California, was a good showcase for Leslie, considered the top high school girls player in the nation this season.