PREP BASKETBALL / SOUTHERN REGIONAL : Crenshaw High Has Double Vision

Crenshaw High begins its bid for a fifth State basketball championship tonight in the first round of the Southern Regional in the State tournament Division I high school basketball playoffs.

The catch is, Crenshaw will be seeking two banners.

The Crenshaw boys’ and girls’ teams, which swept the City Section Division 4-A championships Friday night at the Sports Arena, are both second-seeded in the Southern Regional.

The Crenshaw girls (23-2) will play Capistrano Valley (24-4) at 5:30 p.m., and the Crenshaw boys (24-2) will play Simi Valley (25-5) at 7:30 p.m. in the first round tonight at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

With both teams preparing for the first round, practice time in Crenshaw’s main gym was a precious commodity. Normally, the boys practice in the main gym and the girls practice in the smaller girls’ gym.

The girls’ team has been shooting free throws in the main gym at lunchtime to stay accustomed to larger facilities.

The Cougars are led by 6-foot-5 forward Kristaan Johnson, who averages 21.5 points, and the Lady Cougars are led by guard Cathleen Grice, who averages 19.3 points.

The draw sets up a match between the Crenshaw boys, four-time State champions, and Santa Ana Mater Dei, which won State championships in 1987 and 1990, in the regional final. Mater Dei (31-1) plays Poway (24-6) in a first-round game at UC Irvine’s Bren Center tonight at 7:30.

Mater Dei is led by Miles Simon, a junior guard who has increased his scoring average from 14 points during the regular season to 20.6 in the playoffs.

Eight boys’ and girls’ teams in five divisions qualified for the regional tournaments. Tonight’s first-round winners will play in Thursday night’s semifinals. Finals will be played Saturday at the Sports Arena for Divisions I, II and III, and at CS Dominguez Hills for Divisions IV and V.

Southern Regional champions will play Northern winners for State titles March 19-20 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

In other boys’ Division I first-round games in the Southern Regional, Hanford (25-1) plays host to Long Beach Jordan (21-6) at 7:30 p.m., and Vista (28-2) plays host to Huntington Beach (28-4) at Mesa College at 7:30 p.m.

On the girls’ side in Division I, Lynwood (27-0) plays host to Poway (25-4) at 7:30 p.m. Lynwood, the only undefeated team in the Southern Regional, is led by Timicha Kirby, a junior forward.

In other games, Thousand Oaks (29-1), led by center Marion Jones, plays at Rancho Bernardo (25-3) at 7:30 p.m. and Buena (23-3), led by forward Michelle Giordano, plays at Clovis (26-3) at 7:30 p.m.

The boys’ and girls’ teams from Inglewood Morningside also will play in the Southern Regional. The Morningside boys (26-5), top-seeded in Division III, will play host to Exeter (12-12) at 8 p.m. tonight. The Morningside girls (26-2) will play host to Rancho Alamitos (25-5) at 6 p.m.