Sports : TITLE WAVE?

Two Southeast-Long Beach girls’ basketball teams will attempt to defend their Southern Section championships Saturday at Cal Poly Pomona.

Lynwood will try to defend its title in Division I-AA and Valley Christian in Division IV-A.

Ranked No. 1 in the state by Cal-Hi Sports News, Lynwood (28-1) will meet Peninsula (24-3) in the I-AA final at 8:30 p.m. Valley Christian (25-2) plays Village Christian (24-1) in the IV-A final at 6:45 p.m.

Lynwood defeated Capistrano Valley, 58-41, in the I-AA title game last season and beat San Francisco Balboa, 65-51, in the state final.

The Knights have been lead by forward Timicha Kirby and guard Tawana Grimes. Kirby finished with 15 points and nine rebounds to lead Lynwood to a 52-32 win over Diamond Bar in the I-AA semifinals last week.

Their opponent, second-seeded Peninsula, is no stranger to championship games, having won the state Division I title in 1992. The Panthers are led by guard Mimi McKinney, who had 20 points and seven rebounds in her team’s 60-38 win over San Gabriel in the I-AA semifinals.

It will be the third consecutive season that Valley Christian has advanced to a Southern Section final. The top-seeded Crusaders advanced to the Division IV-A final behind junior forward Jodi Parriott, who has scored 55 points in the past two playoff games.

Their opponent, second-seeded Village Christian, advanced to the final with a 68-58 win over Bell-Jeff last week. It will be Village Christian’s first appearance in a Southern Section final.

END OF THE ROAD

The Long Beach State men’s basketball team, in a five-way battle for second place in the Big West Conference, will complete its regular season when it plays conference games at Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine this week.

The 49ers (15-9, 9-7 in the Big West) will play Fullerton at 8:30 tonight and Irvine at 8:30 p.m. Saturday. Long Beach is in a three-way tie for fourth place with San Jose State and Nevada Las Vegas, one-half game behind Utah State (10-7) and one game behind Pacific (10-6). New Mexico State leads the Big West at 11-4.

Long Beach defeated Fullerton and Irvine in the first meeting between the teams in January. The 49ers had their highest point total of the season in a 111-106 overtime win over Irvine and defeated Fullerton, 91-69.

Fullerton and Irvine also occupy the bottom of the conference standings. Fullerton is 5-11 and Irvine 4-12.

The 49ers split their final two home games last week, surprising New Mexico State, 84-83, and losing to UNLV, 74-70. Long Beach defeated New Mexico State behind 25 points by guard Rod Hannibal and 21 by forward Mike Atkinson.

Atkinson, a 6-foot-7 junior, is the team’s leading scorer with a 15.8-point average and Hannibal is second at 15.6 points. The 49ers will try to improve their position for the conference tournament that starts March 11 at Las Vegas.

Long Beach starting point guard Jeff Rogers, who averaged 5.9 points and 3.1 assists, left the team last week for personal reasons.

PREPS

The Glenn High wrestling team, which won its second consecutive Southern Section dual meet title last week, had three of its wrestlers qualify for the state championship tournament Friday and Saturday at the University of Pacific’s A.G. Spanos Center in Stockton.

Ray Granillo has qualified in the 189-pound classification along with Hector Ramirez in the 160-pound division and Miguel Soto at 119 pounds. Granillo was the only Southeast-Long Beach wrestler to win his division at the Masters state qualifying tournament at Fountain Valley High last week.

Ramirez advanced by finishing fourth at 160 pounds in the tournament and Soto was eighth at 119 pounds.

All three also won matches in their team’s 32-27 win over Mira Costa in the Division IV dual meet championship at Mira Costa last week, Granillo and Soto winning with pins. It was Granillo’s pin of Mira Costa’s Donny Montiel that clinched the title for the Eagles.

Aside from Granillo, Rudolph James of Long Beach Poly and Greg Ford of Whittier were the only other area wrestlers to reach their division final at the Masters tournament.

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Senior point guard Jelani Gardner of St. John Bosco High has been named to the 1994 McDonald’s All-American basketball team on April 3 at Landover, Md.

Gardner, a 6-foot-6 point guard, was one of two Southern California prep players named to the squad. Also named was former Pius X standout Ricky Price of Gardena Serra.

Both will play for the West in the 17th annual McDonald’s game at St. John’s University in New York.

Gardner, who is still undecided on what college he will attend, has averaged 23 points and 7.1 assists for Bosco this season.

BRIEFLY

The Lakewood Youth Hall of Fame will honor former Artesia High basketball player Avondre Jones as its 1993 athlete of the year at an awards banquet at 7 p.m. on March 14 at the Centre at Sycamore Plaza in Lakewood.

The 6-11 Jones, an all-state player for the 1993 Artesia team that won the state Division II title, is a freshman at USC.

In addition to Jones, performer-of-the-year awards will be presented in 13 sports and there will be five special achievement awards.

Tickets, available at Lakewood City Hall, are $25 if purchased by Monday. Information: Tom Lederer at (310) 866-9771, Ext. 2405.

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Former UCLA softball pitching standout Lisa Fernandez, a four-time All-America selection and three-time Honda-Broderick Award winner, will conduct a softball clinic March 27 at St. Joseph High in Lakewood.

Fernandez, a 1989 graduate of St. Joseph and a member of the U.S. National Softball team, will conduct sessions from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. The first session will focus on pitching and the second will emphasize hitting and fielding.

The cost is $40 for the first session and $60 for the second session. The registration deadline is March 11. Information: Margaret Jude at (310) 925-5073.

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The Los Alamitos Recreation and Community Services Department is offering ongoing group lessons for youths and adults at Laurel Park tennis courts in Los Alamitos.

The cost is $6 an hour. Registration is from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays at the Los Alamitos Community Center.

Information: Dan Mainzer at (310) 430-1073 or (310) 431-3538, Ext. 510.