MIDWEEK REPORT : HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS UPDATE : Young Crusaders Look to James for Leadership

Although Lindy James is just a high school senior, she is getting some valuable coaching experience.

James, a two-time all-Southern Section guard playing for the Village Christian girls’ basketball team, is the leader of a very young squad. Three freshmen and a sophomore have either started or seen significant playing time for the Crusaders this season.

“They worship the ground she walks on,” Crusader Coach John Domke said of the younger players.

Last season the Crusaders were 21-5. They have won 30 consecutive Alpha League games over the past four seasons and have advanced to the Southern Section Division 4-A semifinal in each of the past two seasons.

But this season the team seems headed in a different direction. The Crusaders are off to a 5-4 start and are facing some tough competition in the Thousand Oaks tournament this week.

Domke says the slow start is a pitfall of having a young team.

“This is a rebuilding stage for us,” he said. “Sometimes the younger players don’t know how to play with Lindy. They don’t know if they should just give her the ball all of the time or shoot it themselves.”

Jenny Greslie, one of the freshmen, admits that she was in awe of James.

“I was nervous when I first played with her because I didn’t know what was going to happen,” she said. “Now [the younger players] ask her questions when we don’t understand something. Sometimes she’s easier to talk to than the coaches.”

But James says it’s her experience, rather than her talent, that makes her a leader.

“Just by being a senior you feel more leadership responsibility,” James said. “It’s not so much that I’m teaching them. I’m just telling them what it’s like.”

Domke, however, sees some coaching potential there.

“She’s real encouraging and patient,” he said. “She handles the younger players well.”

James has accepted a scholarship to play at the University of Portland next year. After that her future is uncertain.

“I always thought [coaching] would be fun,” she said. “But not as a full-time career.”

Stormy Practice

Palmdale girls’ basketball Coach George Corisis didn’t let a surprise snowstorm Saturday interrupt his practice plans. In fact, it was nothing unusual to Corisis, who has seen far worse than the six inches that fell on his campus.

In 1984, Corisis had to scramble to get his team to the Santa Barbara tournament after the Antelope Valley was hit with a storm that put three feet of snow on the ground and halted almost all activity for several days. With snow falling heavily, Corisis summoned his players to campus and rushed them into a private bus before they could pack clothes and toothbrushes. All they had to wear for the next four days in Santa Barbara were uniforms.

Speaking of Santa Barbara, the driver said they would never make it.

“The bus driver was telling us we were nuts,” Corisis said. “There was only one lane open [on Hwy. 14]. The freeway closed 20 minutes after we got through. It was quite an ordeal.”

The Falcons did make it to Santa Barbara, but 15 minutes late for their opening game against Alemany. Tournament officials called a forfeit.

Corisis remembers Palmdale’s principal telling him not to come back for a week.

“The whole town shut down for two days; there was no way in and no way out,” he said. “School started four days late after the break. We had snow plowed five feet high in front of campus.”

To help his Falcons (10-2) keep their focus during the light flocking Palmdale received Saturday, Corisis called timeout and let them throw snowballs.

Around the Leagues

City Section

VALLEY PAC-8 CONFERENCE

* Boys’ Basketball: Monroe hasn’t seemed to have missed a beat under the tutelage of first-year Coach Alan Cavanis. Fact is, he has picked up right where former Coach Paul Graber left off. The Vikings, who finished 16-6 last season, were off to a 5-1 start after edging Poly, 67-64, in overtime for the consolation championship of the Bell-Jeff tournament last weekend. . . . Grant’s 50-39 victory over Culver City in the third-place game of the Bell-Jeff tournament last weekend marked the first game in more than two years that the Lancers failed to make a three-point basket. It was also the first time the Lancers had won a game while failing to make a three-pointer since February of 1990 when they defeated Jefferson in the first round of the City Section 3-A Division playoffs. . . . What would Reseda be like without the five football players who joined the basketball team late because of their long playoff run, which led to the City 3-A title? Coach David Enowitz doesn’t want to know. Since Jamaal Washington, Tyrone Pearson, Peter Arceneaux, Eric Hoggatt and Ennis Davis joined the team Dec. 11 the Regents have improved to 4-6. Without those five, Reseda was 0-3. . . . Canoga Park’s Carlos Harper has averaged 23.3 points in his last four games. . . . With the four transfers and four returning starters Sylmar had coming into the season, the Spartans appeared poised to improve on their 2-19 record of a year ago. But it hasn’t happened yet. Sylmar is 2-7 but may have turned a corner with last week’s 83-53 victory over St. Monica in a consolation game of the Chaminade tournament. Jeremiah Turner, a 6-5 freshman transfer from Faith Baptist, scored 18 points and was one of four players scoring in double figures.

Southern Section

FOOTHILL

* Boys’ basketball: Defending league champion Burbank was ranked fifth in the area in The Times’ preseason poll, but first-year Coach Ron Quarterman is getting a little embarrassed. The Bulldogs through Tuesday had the worst record (4-6) among Foothill mainstays and the same record as Valencia, a first-year team with no seniors. Burroughs was 6-3. Canyon was 6-3. Hart was 8-3. Saugus was 6-4. After Tuesday’s 72-55 loss to Long Beach Poly, Quarterman lashed out at his team for what he called its worst effort of the season. “I told them they’re underachieving,” Quarterman said. “They’re a funny team. They’ll probably come out [Wednesday] ready to play. Kids today . . . you gotta come to play. That’s the bottom line.” . . . Canyon continues to be the most injury-plagued team in the league. The Cowboys’ latest casualty is forward Ruben Castaneda, who exploded for 28 points in 20 minutes against Atascadero last week. Castaneda scored 15 points in the second quarter, 13 in the fourth and then sprained his ankle. He has not been the same player since.

* Girls’ basketball: Saugus junior varsity coach Susie Sparks is bracing herself for double duty by month’s end. With varsity Coach Laurie Roland eight months pregnant, Sparks has been charged with taking the varsity reins as soon as Roland has her baby. “I hope I make it through the regular season so Susie doesn’t have to coach both teams,” said Roland, who is due between Jan. 30 and Feb. 15. “And we might make the playoffs. You never know.” . . . Canyon had fallen to 2-10 after a 67-55 loss to Bell-Jeff on Tuesday, but where would the Cowboys be without Tanya McLaughlin, who has scored 22, 26 and 30 in three of the past four games?

GOLDEN

* Boys’ basketball: Highland was only lukewarm at 6-5 entering the week, but guard John Burrell was sizzling. The 6-3 senior was averaging 32.5 points per game, and he hit 32 in only three quarters in a victory over Bakersfield West last week. His lowest output was 24 against Paraclete in an 85-50 victory in which he spent as much time watching as playing. “He rarely takes a bad shot,” Coach Tim Knight said. “I wish I had the exact stats, because he’s got to be making 70% or more of his shots.” . . . Golden League football coaches might do a double take when they see Littlerock’s basketball team. It features four of the Lobos’ top players: Marquis Drain (26 points in a recent game), Bruce Johnson, Dwight Hester and Lafayette Bailey.

* Girls’ basketball: Palmdale (10-2) will face Crescenta Valley (11-0) tonight in a nonleague clash of titans. But if Palmdale loses, it might be that its titans were too fatigued. “I think we’re getting a little tired at this point--tired from all the travel,” Palmdale Coach George Corisis said. “We just got back from a Las Vegas tournament. The week before we were at the Brea tournament. Going to Brea four days in a row, that’s about a 250-mile round trip.”

PACIFIC

* Boys’ basketball: Hoover got off to its best start in nine years in the Estancia tournament with a 60-57 victory Tuesday over defending champion Edison. The Tornadoes (5-4) have never finished above .500 in the tournament. Sophomore forward Mark Hull, a leader of last year’s 10-0 sophomore team, scored 20 points. Senior forward Hamlet Azarian (6-1) plays the role of rebounder. “That’s all we ask him to do,” Hoover Coach Kirt Kohlmeier said. “We have a deal: Any ball he rebounds, he can shoot.” . . . Crescenta Valley guard Jake Willis might have suffered a broken left wrist after falling hard to the floor in the Falcons’ 74-54 victory over Portland Oregon City on Tuesday in the opening round of the St. Louis (Hawaii) tournament. “At first, I thought he was fine,” Coach John Goffredo said. “But then they started moving bones around.” . . . The victory was Goffredo’s 293rd of his 18-year career.

* Girls’ basketball: Crescenta Valley’s 11-0 start is the best in the program’s history, bettering last season’s 5-1 mark. The Falcons, who won the Cheyenne tournament in Las Vegas last week, are averaging 20 steals a game and out-hustling opponents with substitutions. “We have a lot of depth,” Coach Marc Ward said. “We just wore everybody down in Vegas.”

CHANNEL

* Boys’ basketball: A week ago, Rio Mesa Coach Steve Wolf said it was going to be a long season. He must have meant long for the Spartans’ opposition. Rio Mesa won the Chaminade tournament behind Tyrone Nunnery, who is averaging 20 points and eight assists. . . . After nearly getting run out of the gym by Rialto in a Westlake tournament opener, Ventura (3-3) bounced back with a pair of victories. Cougar guard Christian Gallagher has made 20 of 41 three-point shots.

* Girls’ basketball: Ventura (4-5) has struggled without point guard Kristin Franklin, a three-year starter who moved to Northern California before the season. But in the Simi Valley tournament the Cougars did defeat Notre Dame and Nicole Campbell made 14 of 16 free throws in a loss to Pasadena.

MARMONTE

* Boys’ basketball: Although only Westlake and Royal played in the Westlake tournament, the league was well represented in the stands. Players and coaches from Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley and Channel Islands were on hand to scout and enjoy the action. . . . Scott Sheridan, Thousand Oaks’ 6-8 center, should return this week after missing two weeks with a broken foot. Josh Armour, Brian Gross and Marlon Williams gave the Lancers strong inside play in his absence. Armour has 36 rebounds.

* Girls’ basketball: Simi Valley Coach Dan Murphy fought flu all week, but watching the Pioneers win their tournament with a convincing victory over Alemany eased his discomfort. . . . Thousand Oaks recorded two impressive victories in the Santa Barbara tournament, defeating defending state Division I champion Atherton Sacred Heart and defending Central Section champion Clovis West. . . . Newbury Park’s Amy Berman made seven three-point baskets in a 65-63 overtime victory over Hart, including three in the final minute of regulation. Berman then made the decisive points on two free throws with 12 seconds to play in overtime.

MISSION

* Boys’ basketball: Scrappy play by a pair of newcomers has helped offset the effects of flu season for Alemany, which has struggled to a 7-5 start. While several key players have been slowed by a virus, seniors Bobby Cromwell and Kris Kuhn have been healthy--and hungry--enough to produce. Cromwell, a 6-foot-4 forward who played sparingly last season after transferring from Chaminade, has moved into a starting role, averaging 12 points and 6.5 rebounds. Kuhn, a 6-foot guard, comes off the bench as the team’s “custodian,” Coach Rob Webb said. “He does all our dirty work,” Webb said. “He goes in to stop their best player and he picks up all the loose balls.” . . . Ash Safaei of Chaminade, a 6-3 senior forward, led the Chaminade tournament with 58 rebounds in four games. Many teams played five games in the tournament. Safaei also averaged 15 points. . . . Twins Jason and Jarron Collins of Harvard-Westlake fared well last week in the Wolverines’ four games of the City of Palms Classic in Ft. Myers, Fla. Jason averaged 18.8 points and 10 rebounds, Jarron averaged 13.8 points and 10.7 rebounds, and both players made observers take notice as Harvard won the consolation championship. “They’ve raised their game accordingly,” Harvard Coach Greg Hilliard said. “We’ve seen them play like we haven’t seen them play, which is what we’ve wanted.” . . . St. Francis, which finished sixth in the formidable La Canada tournament, will have a tough time measuring up against some teams. The Golden Knights have no player taller than 6-2. Point guard Joey Arreola stands only 5-5. “He’s very strong for his size,” Coach John Jordan said. . . . Crespi’s 54-53 victory over Bakersfield Ridgeview for fifth place in the Valencia tournament came by the slimmest of margins. Dennis Fox’s game-winning free throw came with no time on the clock. “He went up, got fouled, the buzzer went off and that was it,” Crespi Coach Pat Yerina said.

* Girls’ basketball: With one more victory, Harvard-Westlake (11-2) will double its victory total of last season, when the Wolverines were 6-14. Harvard won the Campbell Hall and Marlborough tournaments before winning the consolation championship of the Arroyo tournament last week. . . . Three Louisville players are averaging double figures in scoring. Junior guard Becky Witt is averaging 11.3, senior center Adriane Bilek 10.4 and junior guard Rosie Chingcuancgo 10.0. Kari Crawley has made 15 of 29 three-point attempts. “I guess I should keep her behind the three-point line,” Coach Paula Getty-Shearer said.

CAMINO REAL

* Girls’ basketball: Jaclyn Johnson returned to the Bell-Jeff lineup last night in limited action after missing six games with a strained calf muscle. The Guards were 5-1 without Johnson, who averaged 23 points before going out. . . . The Guards had played just one game in nine days before their 67-55 victory over Canyon in the Bell-Jeff tournament on Tuesday. The effects of the layoff were obvious as they fell behind, 8-0, in the first quarter before rallying to win. . . . St. Genevieve is 0-3 since Coach Ray Doyle quit and Athletic Director John Yakel took over. The Valiants are 3-10 overall, but Yakel said they are starting to adjust to each other. . . . Adelita Pallares scored a team season-high 18 points in the Valiants’ 45-30 loss to Pilgrim Tuesday in the Cantwell tournament.

ALPHA

* Boys’ basketball: L.A. Baptist is off to a surprising 9-4 start and has advanced to the championship game in two of the three tournaments it has entered, including last week’s Valencia tournament. Aaron Davis and Jermaine Sweet were named to the all-tournament team at the Valencia tournament. The Knights have four players averaging double figures in scoring: Davis (15.5 points a game), Sweet (15.4), Russ Brumpton (12.2) and Ryan Davis (11.2). Aaron Davis also leads the team in rebounds with 9.1 a game. . . . After starting 1-3, Kilpatrick won twice last week, posting victories over Glendale Academy and Holy Martyrs--two teams they had never beaten before. The Mustangs got a boost when Reggie Goins, a 6-foot-2 guard, joined the team. Goins, who played for Inglewood last year, did not come out at first because he did not expect to be at Kilpatrick for the entire season.

HIGH DESERT

* Boys’ basketball: After starting 0-6, Paraclete is finally rising to the challenge of a difficult nonleague schedule. The Spirits have since won three of their past four games and are 3-7. Coach Allen Adams said his Division X players relish the chance to play several Division II teams from the Antelope Valley area.

SANTA FE

* Boys’ basketball: A lack of depth continues to plague Bell-Jeff, which relinquished a fourth-quarter lead in two losses last week. “The fourth quarter is the scariest for me,” said Guard Coach Eli Essa, who had only eight players dressed for the two losses, both in its own tournament. Marcos Flores and Ruben Douglas, the Guards’ top two free throw shooters, missed four free throws in the final minute of a 66-63 loss to eventual champion Eagle Rock. Elihu Cobb, a 6-foot-5 sophomore center for the Guards, is shooting 68% from the field. He is averaging 17.5 points.

Contributing: Dana Haddad, Steve Henson, Vince Kowalick, Paige A. Leech, Peter Yoon.