Wilson Is No Match for Peninsula, 84-42 : Basketball: Nation’s No. 1 girls’ team looks sharp in playoff opener. Panthers will play Paramount on Wednesday.

After winning 24 consecutive regular-season games--most rather handily--the members of the Peninsula High girls’ basketball team eagerly awaited a more serious challenge in the Southern Section playoffs.

But if it is a challenge the nation’s No. 1 team needs, it will have to wait until next week.

The top-seeded Lady Panthers scored the game’s first nine points and never looked back in an 84-42 I-AA Division first-round victory over visiting Long Beach Wilson Saturday night. Peninsula (25-0) will play Paramount on Wednesday night.

Led by center Jeffra Gausepohl’s 21 points and 18 from reserve guard Jill Kennedy, the Lady Panthers were never threatened by Moore League representative Wilson (12-12).

Peninsula led by 14 points late in the first quarter and then put the game out of reach with a 23-0 run. The Lady Panthers led, 24-6, after one quarter and 52-15 at the half.

Peninsula Coach Wendell Yoshida began substituting freely midway through the first quarter. With his team beating opponents by an average of 35 points, resting his starters was a ploy he used frequently during the regular season.

“I think that might have hurt the kids a little bit,” Yoshida said. “When you’re winning so big, you never have the same kids out there on the floor at the same time for very long, unless it’s the reserves. None of our starters really never got the playing time that they deserved.”

Perhaps rusty from an eight-day layoff, the Lady Panthers committed five turnovers and shot three air balls in the game’s first two minutes.

They came together shortly thereafter, however, and three minutes later led by 14 points.

“In the first quarter, we were shaking,” Wilson Coach Fredia Rhodes said. “We came out intimidated and that’s not us. That’s not to take anything away from them because they do almost everything right--shooting, defense, they’re well-coached. But we did not play our game.”

Guard Kristen Mulligan had 13 points and forward Mimi McKinney added 11 for the Panthers. Gausepohl also had 11 rebounds and blocked five shots.

The site of Wednesday’s game will be announced Monday night.