Elite Tournament Field Includes Peninsula, St. Bernard : Girls’ basketball: Panthers are seeded second and Vikings first in their divisions at Champions event.

Peninsula and St. Bernard, the cream of the crop in South Bay girls’ basketball, are among an elite group of 32 prep teams that will compete in the 14th annual Tournament of Champions starting Monday at Santa Barbara and San Marcos high schools.

Peninsula (3-0) is seeded second in the 16-team Gold Division, for larger schools, and will play Bakersfield in a first-round game at 9 p.m. Monday at Santa Barbara. The Panthers have not played since winning the Capital City Shootout in Sacramento on Dec. 4.

St. Bernard, the defending State Division IV champion, is seeded first in the Green Division, for smaller schools, and will play Del Campo of Fair Oaks in the first round at 4:30 p.m. Monday at San Marcos.

Peninsula won the Gold Division title in 1991 with a team that finished the season unbeaten and was named national champion, an honorary title. Last season, the Panthers took fourth in the tournament. This year’s team is again led by All-American guard Mimi McKinney, a four-year varsity starter who was named most valuable player at the Capital City Shootout after averaging 15.3 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in three games.

“She’s been great,” Peninsula Coach Wendell Yoshida said of McKinney, who was suspended from the team during the summer because of disciplinary reasons. “She’s been our leader and she’s playing unselfishly. She’s making everyone on our team better.”

Yoshida said the two-week layoff was good because it gave the 5-foot-9 McKinney a chance to rest an injured knee suffered in Peninsula’s preseason scrimmage against Long Beach Poly.

McKinney’s supporting cast played well in the Capital City Shootout. Center Katharine Foster-Keddie, a 6-foot junior, averaged 10 points and seven rebounds; junior guard Allison Fortner averaged 10 points; and sophomore point guard Eden Palacio averaged eight points after scoring 17, including four three-point shots, in her varsity debut.

“We had real good balance,” Yoshida said. “If we keep that up, and everybody steps up a little bit, we could do real well.”

Peninsula’s main competitor in the Gold Division is top-seeded Sacred Heart Prep of Menlo Park, the defending State Division V champion. Sacred Heart Prep was 37-0 last season and defeated Morningside in the Green Division final.

Clovis West of Fresno, winner of three Central Section titles in the past four seasons, is seeded third and Ontario is seeded fourth.

St. Bernard, which won the South Torrance tournament two weeks ago, is the team to beat in the Green Division. The Vikings are led by 6-3 senior forward Olympia Scott and 6-5 senior center Marnie Alexander.

Second-seeded Santa Ynez, which lost to St. Bernard in the state regional playoffs last season, returns four starters, led by 6-1 sophomore Kristi Rohr, who is considered among the nation’s best players in her class. Justin-Siena of Napa, the defending North Coast Division IV champion, is seeded third and Lompoc is fourth.

Also competing in the Green Division are Bishop Montgomery and Morningside. In games Monday at San Marcos, Morningside plays Ojai Nordhoff at 10 a.m. and Bishop Montgomery meets Morro Bay at 1 p.m.

Tournament of Champions field

Gold Division

Monday’s first-round games

UPPER BRACKET--Atherton Sacred Heart Prep vs. Hanford at San Marcos High, 6 p.m.; Cerritos vs. Oakland Fremont at Santa Barbara High, 3 p.m.; Westlake vs. Millikan at Santa Barbara, 9 a.m.; Ontario vs. L.A. Washington at Santa Barbara, 1:30 p.m.

LOWER BRACKET--Fresno Clovis West vs. Palmdale at Santa Barbara, 4:30 p.m.; Manteca East Union vs. Chino at San Marcos, 9 p.m.; Berkeley vs. Thousand Oaks at Santa Barbara, 6 p.m.; Peninsula vs. Bakersfield at Santa Barbara, 9 p.m.

Quarterfinals are Tuesday at 4:30 and 9 p.m. at Santa Barbara, and 6 and 9 p.m. at San Marcos.

Semifinals are Wednesday at 7:30 and 9 p.m. at Santa Barbara.

Championship game is Thursday at 9 p.m. at Santa Barbara.

Green Division

Monday’s first-round games

UPPER BRACKET--St. Bernard vs. Fair Oaks Del Campo at San Marcos, 4:30 p.m.; Rancho Alamitos vs. Santa Maria St. Joseph at San Marcos, 7:30 p.m.; San Francisco Burton vs. Santa Barbara at Santa Barbara, 7:30 p.m.; Lompoc vs. Novato at San Marcos, 11:30 a.m.

LOWER BRACKET--Napa Justin-Siena vs. Santa Maria Righetti at Santa Barbara, 10:30 a.m.; Morro Bay vs. Bishop Montgomery at San Marcos, 1 p.m.; Morningside vs. Ojai Nordhoff at San Marcos, 10 a.m.; Alameda vs. Santa Ynez at Santa Barbara, 12 p.m.

Quarterfinals are Tuesday at 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. at San Marcos, and at 3 and 7:30 p.m. at Santa Barbara.

Semifinals are Wednesday at 5 p.m. at San Marcos, and 6 p.m. at Santa Barbara.

Championship game is Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Santa Barbara.