Sports

LIFE AFTER LOUIE

The Harbor College women’s basketball team has sent a crisp and clear message to the rest of the opponents on their 1994-95 schedule.

If anyone expected the Seahawks to falter after the Jan. 11 firing of the program’s architect, Louie Nelson, they had better guess again.

The Seahawks have discovered that life after Louie can still be a rousing success.

Harbor is 3-0 since Nelson was suspended Jan. 5, three days after his standout guard alleged that he punched her in the face and broke her nose during a practice session.

Sophomore guard LaTrece Polk, the team’s leading scorer and the player who made the allegations, has sat out Harbor’s past two games because of her injury; there is no telling if or when she will return to the lineup.

But that hasn’t stopped the Seahawks from continuing their winning ways. They have improved to 19-4, their best start ever, and are ranked No. 4 in the state.

“I’m not surprised,” said Loretta Thomas, who was named interim co-coach Jan. 11 along with Herbert Ivy. “The players still know their responsibilities and know what they have to do to succeed. We had a goal before the season started to make it back to the state (tournament) and repeat as champions, and nothing has changed.”

Several players have stepped up to fill the void left by Polk’s absence.

The leader has been sophomore guard Michelle Duckworth, a 5-7 transfer from Cerritos College who averages about 20 points. The Seahawks have also received scoring punch from sophomore forward Rayjanette Lampkin and freshmen such as guard Markesha Woods from Compton Dominguez High and forwards Olanike Farodolu from St. Bernard and Ronneka Taylor from Manual Arts.

“With LaTrece gone, the whole team has just stepped up its play,” Thomas said. “The team is talented all the way around, with or without LaTrece. Not having her there just makes them play that much harder.”

The footing figures to grow more treacherous for Harbor as the playoffs approach.

But for now, it appears to be business as usual for the Seahawks.

KING TUTT

As a freshman at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, Raymond Tutt had to share the spotlight with a handful of other players on one of the most talented National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics basketball teams.

A season later, the former All-City player from San Pedro High has stepped to the forefront.

The 6-4 sophomore guard leads the Golden State Athletic Conference in scoring at 27.5 points a game and also averages a respectable 6.3 rebounds.

He has even been mentioned as a candidate to earn NAIA All-America honors.

Azusa Pacific Coach Bill Odell said there is no telling how much more Tutt can improve.

“I’m not surprised at all with what he’s accomplished,” Odell said. “He’s been a great kid, he works real hard and the best thing about him is he’s only a sophomore.”

Odell said Tutt is a more complete player than he was as a freshman, when he averaged 14.1 points and 4.1 rebounds.

“The other night (against Pt. Loma Nazarene) he didn’t score as much as usual, but he got 15 rebounds,” Odell said. “He’s learned to do the little things in basketball that you need to succeed.”

Tutt was one of two former South Bay standouts who excelled for the Cougars as freshmen last season. The other was 6-foot guard Michael Dean, an All-Southern Section selection from Torrance High who averaged 8.8 points and 2.8 assists.

Dean has since transferred to Golden West College in Huntington Beach in hopes of catching on with an NCAA Division I program next season. He is averaging about 15 points and six assists.

“He has to be in the right situation to play at that level,” Odell said. “But he certainly has the talent.”

As for Tutt, Odell thinks his best days are still ahead.

“I feel like he’s still operating somewhat on athletic ability,” Odell said. “He still has lots of areas where he can improve his game. As soon as he gets more comfortable in all aspects of his game, he’s going to be that much better.”

That is bad news for Azusa Pacific’s opponents.

BRUIN IN THE MAKING

Linebacker Mike Wiley of Serra High, regarded as one of the top college prospects in the South Bay, has made an unwritten commitment to attend UCLA.

The 6-3, 230-pound Wiley made the All-Southern Section Division III first team and The Times’ South Bay first team last season and was runner-up for Mission League most valuable player. Wiley, who led the Cavaliers with 178 tackles, including 91 unassisted, selected the Bruins over Arizona and Colorado State.

The first day that high school players may sign a national letter of intent is Feb. 1.

PEAK INTO THE FUTURE?

On the road to City Section 3-A Division basketball titles the past two seasons, the Banning boys’ team developed a pattern of starting out slowly and building to a peak at playoff time.

This season, the Pilots appear to be ahead of themselves.

They are off to one of their best starts in recent seasons at 10-5 and appeared in playoff form in a 43-42 win over Washington in their Southern Pacific Conference opener last week.

Washington, which won by 16 points over defending State Division I champion Crenshaw in December, entered the game ranked No. 11 in the state by Cal-Hi Sports with a 13-2 record. The team is one of the favorites for the City 4-A championship.

The win was rewarding to Banning Coach Marc Paez, who remembers three years ago when Washington crushed his team, 82-41, in the first round of the City playoffs.

“This is the second time we’ve beaten them since then and to win a game like that is big for the program,” Paez said.

Banning’s fast start has been led by point guard Brian Jones, a 6-2 1/2 junior who averages 18.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and six assists. The Pilots have also been sparked by senior forwards Kito Patterson and Harold McCrimmon.

But Paez said it was Banning’s defense that came through against the Generals. “Defensively, we were just flawless,” he said. “Our offense played under control and our man-to-man defense was exceptional.”

The victory has left Paez optimistic about his team’s chances the rest of the season.

“I think this team has the talent to remain hot throughout the conference season and take it into the playoffs,” he said.

A HILL TO CLIMB

There is help on the way for the Pepperdine men’s basketball team, which has staggered to one of its worst starts in school history with a 4-10 record.

Unfortunately, it will not arrive until next season.

That is when Bryan Hill, the former City 3-A player of the year from Banning High is expected to return to the Waves after sitting out this season on a medical redshirt. Hill is recuperating from a knee injury.

Hill, a 6-7, 210-pound forward, displayed flashes of brilliance as a freshman last season and earned a starting position before he suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee and underwent surgery in February.

“It’s the kind of injury that takes eight to 12 months to recover,” said Marc Paez, Hill’s coach at Banning.

Paez said Hill, who averaged 3.1 points and three rebounds as a freshman, is nearly ready to play again but has opted to redshirt so he will have three seasons of eligibility remaining.

TRACK HONORS

Six coaches from Southern California have been honored as the first inductees into the Sunkist Invitational High School Track Coaches Hall of Fame; three are from the South Bay.

The South Bay contingent includes Morningside’s Ron Tatum and his longtime assistant Joe Estrada and cross-country and track coach Joe Kelly of Peninsula.

Kelly may have been the most surprised inductee of all.

“I don’t know how they picked the inductees,” he said. “But even if they flipped a coin, I’d still accept. I was really excited when I found out about it because I feel like there are a lot of other people who really should be up at the front of the line.”

It is not as if Kelly doesn’t have impeccable credentials. Since 1978, he has been cross-country and track coach, starting at Palos Verdes and more recently at Peninsula. He has coached four girls’ state cross-country championship teams since the meet started in 1987 and he perennially produces many of the state’s top boys’ and girls’ distance runners.

Tatum and Estrada coached the Morningside girls’ track team that won the state championship in 1991. They have coached the Morningside girls to five consecutive Southern Section Division III titles since 1990 and three boys’ Division III titles in a row since 1992. Tatum’s boys also won three consecutive Southern Section 2-A Division titles from 1986-88.

PAULEY SHOWDOWN

The Bay League game between the Inglewood and Peninsula boys’ basketball teams is shaping up as one of the South Bay’s most anticipated matchups.

But the teams will have to travel to the Westside to play the game, which will determine the Bay leader midway through the league season. The game will be played at 7 p.m. Saturday at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion as part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Challenge.

Inglewood is ranked No. 18 in the nation by USA Today and No. 3 in the state by Cal-Hi Sports.

It is the only league matchup of the three games on the schedule. In the other games, City power Westchester plays Southern Section power Compton Dominguez at 5:20 p.m. and Rowland plays Long Beach Millikan at 8:40.