Graber Resigns as Coach After Monroe Is Left Out

Paul Graber, The Times’ Valley Coach of the Year in 1993, Thursday resigned as boys’ basketball coach at Monroe High.

Graber, 37, compiled a record of 56-34 in four seasons and led the Vikings to the City 3-A championship game in 1993, where they lost to Banning, 60-59.

He decided to step down after a season in which Monroe was 16-6, all 22 games on the road because of a damaged gym, but was excluded from the playoffs in a controversial decision by the City selection committee.

Graber said he was stepping down because he is getting married in July and wants to start a family.

Softball

Scia Maumausolo of Cal State Northridge was named the Western Athletic Conference player of the week for her performance in the San Diego State tournament.

Maumausolo, a junior catcher, raised her batting average from .091 to a team-leading .400 in eight tournament games. She went 11 for 19, including two home runs, two doubles and a triple, with four runs batted in and seven runs.

Basketball

North Hollywood High’s Anna Celaya has been named the Mid-Valley League’s most valuable player for the third consecutive season. The senior guard averaged 25.3 points for the Huskies, who won 17 games in a row before losing to Washington in the City 4-A quarterfinals on Wednesday.

Hart’s LaCresha Clark has been selected Foothill League player of the year for the second consecutive season. The senior guard averaged 15.6 points, 4.3 assists and 4.9 steals for the Indians.

Football

Royal High tailback Jerome Lee has made an oral commitment to play football at Arkansas State, a Division I-A school in the Big West Conference, Highlander Coach Gene Uebelhardt said.

Former Rio Mesa High coach John Reardon is one of four winners of the Clare Van Hoorebeeke Award by the Southern California Interscholastic Football Coaches Assn. for contributions to the game.

Reardon won 155 games, 10 league titles and a Southern Section title in 26 seasons. He retired following the 1993 season.

Soccer

Alessia Bernardini, a 5-foot-6 striker on the Oak Park girls’ team, has signed a letter of intent with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Water Polo

Westlake High’s David Block made an oral commitment to UCLA Thursday. Block, a member of The Times’ All-Area team, scored 65 goals. He spurned offers from Pepperdine and USC.

* Contributing: Dave Desmond, Jeff Fletcher, Paige Leech, Bryan Rodgers, Tris Wykes.