Quartz Hill Plays the Girls Who Made the Grades

As a reward for some players who don’t see much action but excel in the classroom, Quartz Hill girls’ basketball Coach Steve Lankford put his five best students in the starting lineup Friday against Highland.

The five included Jenna Nyholt (4.0 grade point average), Crystal Lester (4.0) and Kristy Berger (3.2), normally reserves. The other starters were familiar faces: forward Sanethia Thomas (4.0) and guard April Garza (4.0), a leading candidate for valedictorian who had 24 points and 11 rebounds in a 79-48 victory.

Crying shame: Chaminade girls’ soccer Coach Mike Evans was moved to tears Friday after his Eagles failed to beat Mission League rival Harvard-Westlake for the seventh consecutive match.

The 2-1 overtime loss, which dropped Chaminade into a first-place tie with the Wolverines, left Evans 0-6-1 against them in his three seasons.

“We had a game plan to keep possession of the ball and send [passes] into the [penalty area],” Evans said. “But once the game started we kind of panicked and the game plan went out the window.

Mountie bounty: Montclair Prep’s blowout victory over Glendale Adventist on Monday was more than just another nonleague triumph.

The victory was Montclair Prep’s 16th, the number set by the Southern Section to automatically qualify for the Division V-AA playoffs.

Thatta baby: Burroughs High girls’ basketball Coach Doug Nicol and his wife Rose became parents on Super Bowl Sunday. Rose gave berth to Delaney Grace Nicol, a seven-pound, 20 1/2-inch girl.

Said Nicol, who stands about 5-8: “That’s a big baby, but if she’s anything like me or my wife, she won’t be a basketball player.”

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Girls’s Basketball Top 10

Rankings of regional high schools by sportswriters of The Times:

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RK LW TEAM (League) REC. 1 1 Buena (Channel) 20-2 2 2 Crescenta Valley (Pacific) 23-2 3 3 Palmdale (Golden) 22-3 4 4 Bell-Jeff (Camino Real) 24-1 5 5 Quartz Hill (Golden) 15-3 6 9 Harvard-Westlake (Mission) 19-6 7 7 No. Hollywood (Valley Pac-8) 19-3 8 8 Kennedy (Northwest Valley) 20-3 9 6 Alemany (Mission) 19-4 10 NR Thousand Oaks (Marmonte) 17-6

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Boys’ Basketball Top 10

Ranking of regional high schools by sportswriter of The Times

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RK LW TEAM (League) REC. 1 1 Harvard-Westlake (Mission) 26-1 2 2 Antelope Valley (Golden) 20-6 3 3 Hart (Foothill) 20-5 4 4 Simi Valley (Marmonte) 19-3 5 5 Rio Mesa (Channel) 16-5 6 9 Birmingham (Northwest Valley) 16-6 7 7 Newbury Park (Valley Pac-8) 15-8 8 8 Santa Clara (Frontier) 17-4 9 6 Chaminade (Mission) 17-6 10 NR Bell-Jeff (Santa Fe) 18-6

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