Girls’ Basketball Peaks at Peninsula : Preps: New high school in Palos Verdes and its coach, Wendall Yoshida, draw top players such as freshman Mimi McKinney to the area.

Mimi McKinney says her ticket to college is through basketball. She also says the best place to get that ticket is at Peninsula High in Palos Verdes.

That is why McKinney and her mother, Princess, are willing to deal with the financial hardships caused by living in the ritzy South Bay community.

Last year, Princess and Mimi gave up their apartment in San Pedro and moved to Rancho Palos Verdes. Mimi was an instant success on the girls’ basketball team, a freshman starter on a squad which won the Division III State title.

McKinney is one of several players who have flocked to Peninsula for a chance to be coached by veteran Wendall Yoshida. Yoshida coached 11 years at Palos Verdes and is in his first year at Peninsula.

Peninsula is a new school, a product of the consolidation of Palos Verdes, Miraleste and Rolling Hills, which closed at the end of the 1990-91 school year. Picking a coach for the new school was easy for district administrators.

“It is definitely more expensive to live here,” said McKinney, who transferred from Dana Junior High in San Pedro. “My mother has to work all the time, and things are tough for us. But it’s a sacrifice we both are willing to make. We talked about this decision, and we know basketball is my ticket to college.”

McKinney, a 5-foot-10 forward/guard, is the only non-senior starter for the Panthers, but she was mentioned in several preseason All-American teams.

Peninsula is 12-0, moving into the No. 1 spot in USA Today last week. The Panthers were No. 3 in the preseason poll but moved up after defeating No. 11 Queens (N.Y.) Christ the King, 46-41, in the championship of the Eastern Invitational Tournament of Champions in New York.

Earlier in the tournament, Peninsula defeated No. 10 Springfield (Pa.) Cardinal O’Hara, 56-33.

Three weeks ago, Peninsula defeated defending City 4-A champion Washington, 55-42.

The victory over Christ the King came in the closest game Peninsula has played this season.

It is not hard to figure out why the Panthers are so dominating. McKinney may be the fifth best starter.

Guards Kristen Mulligan (5-7) and Raquel Alotis (5-8), forward Monique Morehouse (6-3) and center Jeffra Gausepohl (6-5) all have signed letters of intent with Division I colleges. The four seniors made history when they signed their letters together at a school gathering on Nov. 14.

More then 40 people watched as Mulligan and Morehouse committed to Auburn, Alotis to UC Santa Barbara and Gausepohl to Virginia. Auburn and Virginia are among the most respected programs in the country.

Like McKinney, Mulligan, Morehouse and Gausepohl moved into the area to play for Yoshida. Gausepohl moved from Pennsylvania after her father got transferred. The family scouted the area looking for the best basketball program.

Yoshida, a native of Hawaii and a graduate from Cal State Dominguez Hills, is well known in the basketball community. He coaches several AAU teams and is a frequent speaker at clinics. His 11-year record at Palos Verdes was 134-26 (84%), including a league record of 54-2.

He won the Southern Section 3-A Division title in 1988 and finished runner-up in the State tournament. That team featured well-known twins Heather and Heidi Burge, who now play at Virginia.

“There are a lot of keys to having a successful program,” Yoshida said. “But I think we finally started getting some recognition as a top team when the Burge twins played here. They brought us a lot of publicity. Now it is just a matter of success breeding success.

“Girls’ basketball is a popular sport here now. We receive a lot of recognition, and there are a lot of people in the community who are now following us in the newspapers.”

Peninsula is one of the few girls’ basketball programs in the Southland that receives as much attention in the media as some of the more popular boys’ teams. Interest is running so great for Saturday’s showdown at Brea-Olinda that advance tickets are being sold at both schools since an early sellout is expected.

Yoshida is blessed with so much talent this season that junior reserves Jill Kennedy, a 5-6 guard, and Joanna Whitley, a 5-9 guard/forward, probably would start on any other team. The Peninsula coach said both should start next year and will be Division I college prospects.

And there is plenty of talent on reserves. The junior varsity squad, which is 62-4 over the past three years, features four players who are 5-10 or taller.

“Serious kids and serious parents are willing to move and do whatever it takes to have success,” said Yoshida, who claims he does no recruiting and does not attend junior high school games to scout talent. “These are people with a mission, and they know we have a good program and that the school will give them a good education.”

Said McKinney: “I knew Coach Yoshida before I decided to come here. I knew he was a good coach and I liked him personally. I have no regrets of my decision to transfer here.”