NOTEBOOK / SEAN WATERS : St. Bernard Boys Attempt to Go From Fifth to First

Despite finishing fifth in the Mission League, the St. Bernard High boys’ basketball team earned a place in the Southern Section IV-AA championship game. The Vikings will play Corona del Mar at Estancia High at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Under Coach Jim McClune, the Vikings have reached at least the semifinals five of the past 12 years. In 1982, the Vikings won the 3-A Division championship, beating Hoover of Glendale, 57-49. St. Bernard had 10 players on the 1981-82 team who later received Division I scholarships. Corey Gaines, Keith Ramee, Ronnie Grandison and Kevin Bidato were the top upperclassmen. Leonard Taylor was a sophomore on the team. The Southern Section expanded its playoff format from five to nine divisions in 1989. An additional championship game was added in 1991, bringing the total to 10. “Given the present situation, it is nice to be playing for a Southern Section championship,” McClune said. “But I like the old system better. What do we have, 10 Southern Section champions? It waters down the competition quite a bit and we’ve benefited.” Although this season’s team is not as talented as the 1981-82 squad, according to McClune, the Vikings (13-14) have a talented backcourt. Terrell Hickman, a 6-1 shooting guard, is averaging 22 points a game in the playoffs after missing half the season because of the chicken pox and flu. Darren Mitchell, a 6-3 guard, is averaging 15 points. “If they win Friday, they’ll be Southern Section champions,” McClune said. “When they are 60-years-old, fat and bald, they can say they were Southern Section champions. No one will be able to take it away from them.” Boys’ basketball: How tough is the Delphic League against rival small schools in basketball? Consider that all four league qualifiers played in semifinal games Tuesday. Crossroads, the top-seeded and defending Division IV-A champion, lost to Verbum Dei, 71-65, at Compton College. Brentwood, the second-place team, and Faith Baptist, the third-place team, played in the semifinals of the Division V-AA playoffs. The Eagles reached the semifinals for the fourth consecutive year. They lost to Brethren Christian, 40-37, at Harvard-Westlake. Faith Baptist lost to Chadwick, 75-51. Brethren Christian was eliminated in the semifinals the past three seasons by a Delphic League team. En route to winning the Southern Section title in 1991, Brentwood beat Brethren Christian in a semifinal game. Bel-Air Prep, the third-place team, defeated Rio Hondo Prep, 49-46, in a Division V-A game. In a City Section 4-A Division semifinal, two-time defending champion Westchester lost to top-seeded Crenshaw, 102-77. Girls’ basketball: St. Bernard had to stop 6-foot-3 Nordoff center Rachel Mc Sorley, but the Vikings prevailed, 63-29, Tuesday night at Santa Clara High in Oxnard. Senior guard Kelly Shimabukuro scored 15 points to lead the Vikings, who have won 20 games in a row. St. Bernard (24-4) will play top-seeded Santa Ynez Saturday in the Southern Section Division IV-AA at a neutral site. The Vikings won the Southern Section Division III-A championship in 1991. Joi Turner, a 5-foot-4 guard, has been a key player for the Lady Vikings during the playoffs, averaging 13 points and six steals a game. Turner, who signed early with San Jose State, had 17 points and three assists in St. Bernard’s 69-36 victory over Morro Bay Saturday. “She has stopped every guard we have played against in the playoffs,” St. Bernard Coach Lori Pawinski said. “Morro Bay must have had 20 turnovers against us.” In a Southern Division III-A game, Culver City lost to top-seeded Costa Mesa, 57-37, Tuesday at Estancia High. Guard Jenny Nakanishi scored 14 points to lead the Centaurs. Girls’ soccer: Junior center-midfielder Ann O’Brien, sophomore right midfielder Sarah Neal and freshman left forward Ava Berkofsky have been the top players for the Brentwood Eagles, which lost to La Reina, 3-2, on Tuesday in the semifinals of the Southern Section Division IV semifinals at Wildflower Park in Thousand Oaks. “Those are the three players we look to carry us in the big matches,” Brentwood Coach Len Magier said. “They set the tone for a gritty, competitive group of girls.” The Eagles (16-4-2) finished second behind Pasadena Poly in the Prep League. This is the third time in four years that Brentwood has reached the semifinals. Brentwood has been in the championship game twice in school history, losing to Mayfield of Pasadena, 3-2, in 1990 and to Pasadena Poly, 3-2, in overtime in 1991. Boys’ baseball: The Westside tournament will begin pool play Friday with 10 area schools competing in the 32-team tournament. In the first round, tournament host Crossroads will play University at Jackie Robinson Stadium at 5 p.m.; Westchester will play at St. Bernard; Culver City will play host to Sylmar; St. Monica is at San Pedro; Palisades is at Beverly Hills and Santa Monica is at Venice. “This promises to be our best field of teams ever,” Crossroads Coach and tournament organizer Chuck Ice said. “We drum up more local interest by adding a quality program like Culver City to our tournament.”