Peninsula Wins; Morningside, Bishop Montgomery Lose : I-AA Division: After Lynwood cuts lead to 39-38, the Lady Panthers go on 15-6 run to win, 54-44. Peninsula, is now 30-0.

A year ago, they stood in the spotlight and accepted the Southern Section trophy on behalf of Palos Verdes High.

On Saturday, all five starters from that team returned to the winner’s circle as representatives of Peninsula High, the I-AA Division girls’ basketball champion.

The Lady Panthers took an early lead, repelled a second-half charge and finished strongly to defeat Lynwood, 54-44, in front of 1,200 at the UC Irvine Bren Events Center.

The nation’s top-ranked team got 18 points from 6-foot-5 center Jeffra Gausepohl and an all-around outstanding performance from playmaking senior guard Kristen Mulligan, who finished with 15 points, nine rebounds, eight assists and three steals.

Despite the gravity of their accomplishments, the players and their coach were subdued at the postgame press conference. They explained that winning has not become passe; it’s just that further challenges lie ahead in the Southern California regional championships beginning Tuesday.

Palos Verdes also won last year’s regional and state championship.

“We did a lot of celebrating on the court and right now it’s just starting to settle in,” Gausepohl said. “Plus we know that there’s more basketball to be played so we’re already looking forward to the next game.”

Top-seeded Peninsula (30-0) was so much stronger than most of its opponents this year that legitimate challenges were few and far between.

But when second-seeded Lynwood (26-2) pulled to within one point in the fourth quarter, Lady Panther Coach Wendell Yoshida responded like a man who had been in tough situations before.

“There were some games where the starters played less than a half so you worry about them getting lethargic or out of sync,” he said. “But they’re such quality players and they always know what needs to be done.

“I never worry about them finding a reason to play hard. They’ve played together for a while now, and each one of them has played in some extremely tough competition and they know what it takes.”

Sophomore forward Mimi McKinney’s five points staked the Lady Panthers to an early lead, but Lynwood center Janet Davis hit three consecutive turnaround shots to put her team ahead, 8-7.

Raquel Alotis’ three-pointer then ignited a 16-2 Peninsula run that Mulligan and Gausepohl fueled with seven and six points, respectively.

Lynwood finally broke the scoring drought midway through the second quarter, but the Lady Panthers scored their final 10 points to take a 33-18 lead at halftime.

Both teams struggled early in the second half, but Peninsula maintained the advantage and took a 39-25 lead with two minutes 41 seconds to play in the third quarter.

Using three three-point baskets from Timicha Kirby and capitalizing on three turnovers, Lynwood then scored the game’s next 13 points to trail, 39-38, with 6:43 remaining.

The Lady Panthers then demonstrated why USA Today ranks them the nation’s No. 1 team by answering the challenge and finishing with a 15-6 spurt that was again sparked by Gausepohl and Mulligan.

“Our defense was the difference in the first half and we let down a little in the second half,” Mulligan said. “The difference in the game was we started taking care of the ball toward the end and started to run our offense again.”

Yoshida thinks the Lady Panthers’ experience in previous tough games paid dividends.

“Every one of these players has played in big games before,” he said. “So for them, it was just a matter of rising to the occasion.”

But Lynwood Coach Maurice Robeson had an even simpler explanation: “The better team won,” he said. “It’s that simple.”

McKinney finished with nine points and Alotis, a senior guard slowed because of a recent bout of mononucleosis, scored five points. Reserve Jill Kennedy added five points and senior forward Monique Morehouse had nine rebounds.

Davis, the former Morningside standout who transferred last fall, led Lynwood with 15 points. Shefonda Colbert had 13 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.

Playing former South Bay rivals provided extra incentive, Davis said.

“I really did want to beat them because we’ve been rivals for a long time,” she said. “But like coach said: They were the better team.”