Peninsula Carries Nation’s No. 1 Ranking

The best ever.

That’s what some experts are already saying about the Peninsula High girls’ basketball team. The Panthers have been ranked No. 1 in the nation by Street & Smith magazine and are expected to be rated No. 1 by USA Today.

Len Locher, editor of Court, a newsletter that covers girls’ high school basketball in California, says Peninsula has the talent to surpass the 1981 Cheryl Miller-led Riverside Poly team (29-0) as the best in state history.

“The Panthers have the rare opportunity to make their mark on California high school history--as the best-ever high school girls’ basketball squad that has ever taken the court,” Locher wrote.

Peninsula Coach Wendell Yoshida isn’t surprised by the accolades. He knew the expectations would be high for a team that returns all five starters from last season’s State Division III championship squad at Palos Verdes (32-2).

“The way I look at it, the pressure is going to be on us sooner or later,” said Yoshida, whose team will compete on the Division I level this season. “I think I’ve got the kind of kids who can keep it in perspective.”

Peninsula’s four senior starters all took their first recruiting trips last weekend. Monique Morehouse, a 6-foot-3 forward, and point guard Kristen Mulligan visited USC, 6-5 center Jeffra Gausepohl visited Virginia and guard Raquel Alotis visited UC Santa Barbara. The other starter, sophomore forward Mimi McKinney, is considered one of the nation’s top 10 players for her class, according to Locher.

To avoid distractions during the season, Yoshida said he would like the seniors to commit to colleges during the early signing period of Nov. 13-20.

“Hopefully they’re going to sign early,” he said. “But it’s a tough decision. They have a ton of choices.”

Peninsula is only the third California school to obtain a No. 1 national ranking. Muir of Pasadena was No. 1 for three weeks in the 1985-86 season and Morningside started the 1989-90 season on top. No California team has finished the season at No. 1.

Palos Verdes opened last season rated No. 13 by Street & Smith and finished with the No. 13 rating in USA Today. Street & Smith only publishes a preseason ranking.

For Peninsula to hold onto its No. 1 ranking, it will have to prove itself against some of the nation’s top competition. The Panthers have games against traditional powers Washington, Brea-Olinda, Buena of Ventura and Morningside, and will compete in three prestigious tournaments, highlighted by the Christ the King Tournament in New York during Christmas break.

Peninsula opens the season Dec. 5 in the eight-team Sacramento Capital City Shootout. The field includes defending State Division I champion Berkeley.

Peninsula’s two big girls--Morehouse and Gausepohl--are coming off summers in which they were sidelined. Morehouse missed most of the summer with a compound fracture and dislocated left index finger and Gausepohl missed several weeks with mononucleosis.

However, both are rounding into shape thanks to a strict fitness regimen.

“They’re both working hard,” Yoshida said. “They’re putting on weight, but they’re not getting fat. We lift (weights) three days a week and run three days a week, so they’re not putting on weight in the wrong places.

“I just want us to be physically imposing and physically dominant. I want them to be big and quick. We have to get them ready so they can step into the college game. That’s my goal this fall.”

Turnovers have played a major part in the disappointing 3-3 record of the Carson football team. The Colts have given the ball away 23 times, including five times last week in a 30-27 loss to Washington.

Quarterback Jamie Sander threw three interceptions and lost two fumbles in last week’s game to raise his season totals to 11 and six, respectively. But Carson co-coach Jim D’Amore said it’s unfair to blame Sander, a junior in his first varsity season, for the Colts’ troubles.

D’Amore said the receivers must do a better job of catching the ball. Last week a pass that deflected off the hands of a Carson receiver resulted in an interception that Washington returned for a touchdown. There have also been problems with receivers running poor patterns, he said.

“We have to start making some changes,” D’Amore said. “You can’t blame the players for (dropping passes). A guy can’t help it if he can’t catch the ball. It’s a coaching mistake. We have to put people in the game who can make the catch for us. We can’t put in questionable players.”

D’Amore said the Colts plan to move outside linebacker James Pepe to wide receiver for Friday afternoon’s game at Crenshaw. Also, wingback Damin Hurst, who has had trouble with dropped passes, will be asked to run the ball more.

But don’t expect Carson to scrap its double-slot passing attack.

“We’ve been running more to take the pressure off (Sander), but I think we should probably be throwing the ball more,” D’Amore said. “We’ve been getting advice from (former) Coach (Gene) Vollnogle. He says when you run a pass offense, you have to pass more. The question is, who do you throw it to? We only have two or three players who can catch the ball consistently.”

D’Amore said the Colts suffered a severe blow before the season when Landy McCall, one of the team’s top two receivers along with preseason All-American Theron Hill, moved to Phoenix.

“That caused a lot of turmoil,” D’Amore said. “It took away one of the best players we had. Every time you needed a catch, he would come up with the ball. He could return punts, he was a good runner and he could play defensive back. When you lose one of your top two players, it’s not so easy.”

After reviewing films of Friday night’s Redondo-Beverly Hills football game, administrators have determined that fights that prompted officials to prematurely stop the contest were not severe enough to suspend any players.

Seven players--five from Beverly Hills and two from Redondo--were ejected after the teams engaged in several skirmishes in the second half of Redondo’s 30-0 Ocean League victory.

Redondo Athletic Director Greg Fucci said Sea Hawk quarterback Ted Silva and receiver Joey Chappell have been placed on probation but will be allowed to play in Friday night’s game at Culver City.

“We’re going to watch their behavior,” Fucci said. “They know they have to keep their cool. The (Redondo) coaches sat the entire team down and talked with them about keeping cool and walking away from trouble.

“But we’re kind of innocent on this. I took a look at the film Saturday night and said to myself, ‘God, where was the problem?’ Somehow it just got blown out of proportion.”

Fucci said a missed call by officials may have triggered bad feelings. The film showed that Redondo should have been penalized for hitting Beverly Hills quarterback Ziv Gottlieb out of bounds, Fucci said. When Gottlieb realized no call had been made, he angrily argued with officials and was ejected.

“It was a well-officiated game up until about when the Beverly Hills kid got knocked out of bounds,” Fucci said. “I think that was missed. Other than that, the calls were there.”

Fucci said the game film has been turned over to the officials organization for review. A copy has also been sent to the CIF-Southern Section office.

Beverly Hills Athletic Director Jack Dyck said he was proud of the way the Norman players and coaches conducted themselves in the game and said he was upset with comments made by Redondo Coach Chris Hyduke, who insinuated that Beverly Hills was to blame for the fighting.

“(Hyduke) really kind of put us in a bad light, and unfairly so,” Dyck said. “There were two incidents, both instigated by Redondo kids. I was real proud of the way our kids tried to avoid both situations.”

South Bay’s Football Top 10

Selected by Times Sportswriters

Rank, School, League Record 1 Banning (Pacific) 6-0 2 Morningside (Ocean) 5-0 3 Hawthorne (Bay) 5-1 4 Peninsula (Bay) 5-1 5 Carson (Pacific) 3-3 6 South Torrance (Pioneer) 4-2 7 Inglewood (Bay) 4-2 8 North Torrance (Pioneer) 4-2 9 Redondo (Ocean) 4-2 10 B. Montgomery (Mission) 4-2