Knight Shows the Way for Westchester in Win

Billy Knight scored 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, and Tony Bland had 16 points and nine rebounds for Westchester, which defeated Cleveland, 96-64, Wednesday in a City Section 4-A Division playoff game at Westchester.

The Comets improved to 23-5 overall and Cleveland finished at 20-7.

“It was an entertaining game,” Westchester Coach Ed Azzam said. “I think our man-to-man defense was the difference.”

Donald Holt had 20 points to lead the Cavaliers.

Westchester plays Palisades in the semifinals Friday or Saturday at a site to be determined.

Crenshaw 112, Granada Hills Kennedy 64--Four-time defending City 4-A champion Crenshaw took a 29-10 first-quarter lead and never struggled in a quarterfinal game at at Crenshaw.

Alastair Faux scored 21 points, Anthony Garrison had 20 and Kevin Bradley added 18 to lead the Cougars (21-3).

Palisades 73, Los Angeles 59--Shannon Johnson scored 25 points and grabbed 14 rebounds and the Dolphins (23-5) defeated Los Angeles (13-13) in a City Section 4-A Division quarterfinal game at Palisades.

Fairfax 68, Manual Arts 54--Greg Jefferson scored 25 points and Joe Shipp had 16 and the Lions (19-7) defeated Manual Arts (18-8) in a City Section 4-A quarterfinal at Fairfax.

Sylmar 47, San Pedro 46--Jeremiah Turner scored after a missed free throw by teammate Daron Wilson with 31 seconds remaining to lift Sylmar (17-8) in a 3-A Division quarterfinal at Sylmar.

GIRLS’ BASKETBALL

Palisades 43, Washington 42--Leilani Estavan had 14 points and April Freeney had 10, four of them on free throws during the final 18 seconds, to lead the Dolphins (25-1) over the defending City Section 4-A Division champion Generals (15-6) in a quarterfinal game at Palisades High.

Freeney made two free throws to break a 39-39 tie with 18 seconds to play and two more free throws with 11 seconds left to give the Dolphins a 43-39 lead.

Wilmington Banning 61, North Hollywood 55--Kendra Tease scored 32 points and Banning (22-5) ended North Hollywood’s (22-4) 11-game winning streak in a City 4-A quarterfinal at Banning.

Franklin 46, Birmingham 45--Nani Escudero’s layup with 15 seconds left got the Panthers (21-6) past the Braves (15-9) in a City 3-A quarterfinal at Franklin.

Simi Valley 56, Palmdale 55--Christina Mosesso banked in a three-point shot with five seconds to play in overtime and Simi Valley (20-9) upset top-seeded Palmdale (24-4) in a Southern Section Division I-AA playoff game at Simi Valley.

Victor Valley 53, Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley 51--Jasmine Ewing scored 20 points and Victor Valley (17-9) upset Capistrano Valley in a Southern Section Division I-AA game at Victor Valley.

Chino Hills Ayala 61, Rialto Eisenhower 47--Candace Allen scored 29 points and hit five three-point shots to lead Ayala (23-6) over Eisenhower (22-6) in a Southern Section Division I-AA game at Ayala.

Ventura Buena 73, Alhambra Keppel 40--At Buena, Renae Hofmann scored 16 points to lead top-ranked and defending Southern Section Division I-A champion Buena (23-2).

Chino 53, Riverside Arlington 39--Jean Clark scored 21 points to lead Chino (22-5) over Arlington (20-6) in a Southern Section I-A game at Chino.

Cerritos Gahr 56, Irvine Woodbridge 54--Monet Sykes had 18 points and eight rebounds, and Arnesha Patterson contributed 16 points and seven assists to lead Gahr (18-8) to an upset of second-seeded Woodbridge (22-5) in a Southern Section II-AA game at Gahr.

San Bernardino 72, Palm Desert 45--LaCresha Flanigan scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to give San Bernardino (24-3) a win over Palm Desert (20-3) in a Southern Section Division II-A game at San Bernardino.

Compton Dominguez 57, Bellflower 56--Sharonne Spencer scored 17 points and had a three-point play with five seconds to play to give Dominguez (23-5) a win in a Southern Section Division II-A game at Dominguez.