Sports

PREPS

The Dominguez and Artesia boys and the Long Beach Poly and Valley Christian girls were victorious in the Southern Section basketball championships Friday and Saturday.

Dominguez defeated Tustin, 77-59, in the Division II-A final to win its first title since 1989. The Dons had lost in the championship game the past two seasons.

James Brown had 19 points and Tommy Prince and James Jones scored 18 each for Dominguez (29-2).

Prince had 21 points and five steals and Jason Thomas had 17 points in the Dons’ 87-55 victory over Bakersfield Highland in a Southern California Regional Division II playoff game Tuesday. Dominguez plays Pasadena tonight in a second-round game at home.

Jonathan Nelson and Kevin Daley paced Artesia to a 65-52 victory over Centennial in Division III-AA with 18 and 17 points each Saturday at the Anaheim Arena.

Nelson, a 6-foot-9 center, made seven of 10 shots and Daley, a 6-6 forward, made eight of 10 shots for the Pioneers.

Artesia (27-3) defeated Fresno Central, 75-31, in a Southern California Regional Division III first-round game. Deandre Moore had 14 points, nine assists and five steals in the victory for the Pioneers, who play host to San Diego University tonight.

The Long Beach Poly girls beat Peninsula, 62-53, to win their first Southern Section title in the Division I-AA championship Friday at the Pyramid.

It was the first appearance in a title game in 15 seasons for the Jackrabbits (25-5), who lost to a Riverside Poly team that included Olympian Cheryl Miller in their last appearance.

K.K. Johns had 24 points and Laneka Allen and Kanesha Sanders scored 12 each against Peninsula. Sanders had 13 points Tuesday night against three-time City 4-A Division champion Crenshaw, but the Jackrabbits suffered a 52-35 defeat in a Southern California Regional Division I first-round game at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

* Valley Christian won its fourth consecutive division title, coasting to a 66-44 victory over Crossroads in the Division IV-A championship at the Pyramid.

Jodi Parriott had 34 points, 11 rebounds and three steals. The 6-foot-2 USC-bound senior made all eight of her free-throw attempts and 13 of 21 shots from the field.

“Last year, we were experienced,” said Parriott, the only returning starter from the 1994 championship team. “This year’s title was unexpected. It’s a great achievement.”

Sophomore Tandee Taylor added 17 points and 12 rebounds for Valley Christian (23-3).

It was the seventh title for 24th-year Coach Eleanor Dykstra, who also guided the Crusaders to championships in 1982, 1985, 1987, 1992, 1993 and 1994.

On Tuesday, Valley Christian beat Tollhouse Sierra, 52-41, in a first-round game of the Southern California Regional Division IV playoffs. Valley Christian plays Morro Bay tonight.

* Long Beach Poly boys’ basketball Coach Ron Palmer will have to wait until next season to earn his 400th coaching victory at the school.

Palmer, who has guided the Jackrabbits to 10 Southern Section championship appearances in 16 seasons, was denied the milestone victory in a 65-57 defeat to Fontana in the Division I-AA final Saturday at the Anaheim Arena.

Palmer missed another chance when Poly’s season came to an end Tuesday night in a 65-47 defeat to Mater Dei in a Southern California Regional Division I playoff game at UC Irvine’s Bren Events Center.

* Long Beach Poly won its first girls’ soccer title with a 1-0 victory over Buena on a goal by Sarah Kaminsky in the Southern Section Division II championship Saturday at Gahr High. Goalkeeper Cheri Phillips registered three shutouts in four playoff matches for Poly (19-4-4).

The Moore League’s second-place entrant, Poly (19-4-4) knocked off three seeded teams en route to the final. The Jackrabbits beat No. 2 Ocean View, 1-0, in the first round; Redlands in the quarterfinals, 3-2, and No. 3 El Modena, 1-0, in the semifinals.

Long Beach Jordan advanced to the boys’ title game for the first time, but lost to Santa Barbara, 3-0, in the Division II championship at Gahr High.

* Ray Granillo of Glenn finished third in the 180-pound division at the state wrestling championships at Stockton, pinning Barney Padgett of Hemet in 3 minutes 36 seconds. Granillo, a senior, finished with a 59-1 record. His only defeat came to eventual champion Mark Munoz of Vallejo in the semifinals.

COMMUNITY COLLEGES

The Cerritos College men’s basketball team opens play in the state tournament against Hartnell at 4 this afternoon at UC Irvine.

In other first-round games, College of the Sequoias (26-7) plays Los Angeles City (33-1) at 2 p.m.; West Valley (33-2) meets Riverside City at 6 and Fresno (26-10) plays Ventura (34-1) at 8.

If Cerritos (31-1) beats Hartnell, the Falcons will play either West Valley or Riverside City in the semifinals at 6 p.m. Friday. The championship is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

Cerritos qualified for the eight-team tournament with an 87-84 victory over Cuesta in the third round of the Southern California Regional playoffs Saturday.

Sophomore center Darius Rutledge had 19 points and six rebounds and freshman forward David Henry added 17 points and 10 rebounds against Cuesta. Rutledge also led the Falcons with 25 points and 13 rebounds in a 99-72 second-round victory over Imperial Valley.

* Michelle Coleman of Cerritos has been named to the California Community College Women’s Basketball Coaches Assn. 1994-95 all-state first team. The sophomore center averaged 15.4 points and 11.4 rebounds to help the Falcons advance to the second round of the Southern California Regional playoffs.

Elana Adams of Compton, the South Coast Conference’s most valuable player, was named to the second team.

AT THE BEACH

Melissa Gower of Long Beach State was selected Big West Conference player of the week for the third time. Gower, who was named conference co-player of the week along with Gwynn Hobbs of Nevada Las Vegas, had 40 points and 17 rebounds in a 65-60 loss to New Mexico State on Thursday and had 36 points and 16 rebounds in a 73-71 defeat to Nevada Las Vegas on Saturday.

The 6-1 senior center, who is averaging 23.8 points and 13.3 rebounds, has scored in double figures in 43 of 44 games.

Long Beach State played UC Irvine Wednesday in the Big West tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. The sixth-seeded 49ers, coming off two home losses, enter the tournament 13-13 and 10-8 in conference.

A victory against third-seeded UC Irvine (16-10, 12-6) would place the 49ers in a semifinal game at 6 tonight against UC Santa Barbara or Cal State Fullerton. The championship will be played at 1 p.m. Saturday. The tournament winner will receive a bid to the NCAA tournament.

* The Long Beach men’s basketball team is seeded third in the conference tournament. The 49ers (17-9, 13-5 in conference), who finished in a second-place tie with New Mexico State, play sixth-seeded UC Santa Barbara (13-13, 8-10) in the first round. The winner will advance to a semifinal at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

* Jaime Barragan and Kirran Moss of Long Beach were winners in a quadrangular track and field meet with Cal State Los Angeles, UC Santa Barbara and UCLA Saturday in Westwood.

Barragan won the 100 meters in 10.55 seconds and joined Gary Cablayan, Jacob Glickman and Brandon Thomas on the 49ers’ victorious 400-meter relay team that timed 40.22.

Moss won the women’s shotput with a put of 43 feet 9 3/4 inches and was second in the discus at 126-11.

NAMES IN THE NEWS

Rosalinda Garcia of Long Beach and Jaime Ortiz of Cudahy were the area’s top finishers at the 10th Los Angeles Marathon Sunday. Garcia placed 17th in the women’s division, covering the 26.2-mile course in 3 hours 10 minutes. Ortiz was 30th in the men’s race in 2:35:29.