DIVISION I GIRLS : Mater Dei Hands Crenshaw First Loss

Two great teams met in the Southern California Regional girls’ semifinals here Thursday. Only one remains in the race for the State title.

Still playing is Mater Dei, which broke open a close game with Los Angeles Crenshaw on an 11-2 fourth-quarter run and went on to defeat the Cougars, 72-57, at Cal State Fullerton. Mater Dei (27-1) moves on to Saturday’s Division I regional final Saturday at The Pond of Anaheim.

It was the first loss this season after 29 consecutive victories for Crenshaw, the City Section 4-A champion.

The Monarchs were paced by forward Melody Peterson, who scored 25 points despite a very sore back and missing all but 40 seconds of the first quarter because of fouls. Peterson was the catalyst in the critical fourth-quarter spurt, throwing a couple no-look passes that led to easy baskets, and hitting a three-pointer as Mater Dei stretched its lead from 51-45 to 62-47 with less than three minutes to play.

Crenshaw center Naila Moseley scored 25 of her game-high 34 points in the second half and almost single-handedly kept the Cougars--who led twice, the last time being 17-16 in the second quarter and who trailed 31-25 at the half--close. Moseley, however, was one of three Crenshaw players to foul out.

“We knew she was their scorer and we keyed on her,” Peterson said. “We just couldn’t stop her.”

The game ended on a bitter note when Crenshaw co-Coach Greg Cobbs railed against Peterson, claiming she told her teammates, “Don’t shake hands with them, they want to fight.”

“I won’t make any excuses for the game. They are a great team,” Cobb said of Mater Dei. “I wish them luck the rest of the way. But what Peterson did, I think was terrible. And for the only black girl on their team to say that is pitiful. I have no respect for her anymore.”

Mater Dei Coach Mary Hauser said she did not see the incident but said, “If that’s what happened then I will be very upset. That would be totally unnecessary.”

Peterson, getting treatment on her back during Cobb’s post-game remarks, was not available for comment.

What Crenshaw--the last undefeated girls’ team in the state--did not have an answer for was the ease in which Mater Dei broke their full-court press, and often streaked into their basket for easy layups. “We just didn’t play it right,” Moseley said. “And we didn’t play the way we had in other games.”

Ronnie Gondringer added 20 points for Mater Dei.