North Hollywood Leaves Grant a Distant Second

It may be lonely at the top, but that’s exactly how the North Hollywood High girls’ basketball team likes it.

The Huskies, who tied Grant for the Mid-Valley League championship last season, clinched the title outright Friday with a 72-54 victory at Grant.

“Sharing is greatly overrated,” said Coach Rich Allen of North Hollywood, which won its ninth consecutive league championship.

Forward Markia Derby scored on consecutive drives early in the fourth quarter to ignite a 16-0 Husky run that turned a competitive 52-43 game into a 25-point runaway.

“We didn’t want to share anything this time,” said Derby, a senior who had 25 points and 10 rebounds. “We wanted it all to ourselves.”

North Hollywood also had a 25-5 run in the second quarter.

Last season, Grant upset the Huskies to end their 51-game Valley Pac-8 Conference winning streak, the longest such streak in the region at the time.

“But that was last season,” Derby said. “This is this season.”

Since that loss, North Hollywood (20-5, 10-0 in league play), ranked No. 6 in the region by The Times, has won 14 consecutive Valley Pac-8 games.

Three of those victories were against Grant (16-9, 8-2), which lost All-Valley players Nakeisha Perkins and Angela Terry and four other key players after last season to graduation.

Grant reloaded with a lineup that featured two sophomores, two juniors and a senior, none taller than 5 feet 7. The Lancers were in contention for the league title until the final day of the regular season.

“I’m sure the girls are disappointed, but we’re a young team,” said Coach Steve Brumwell of Grant. “There’s a lot of future here.”

Alexis Weatherspoon, Krystal Clay, Leslie Mui and Natalie Gabor each are averaging more than 10 points per game.

Gabor, the only senior in the Lancer lineup, set a school record with 44 points Wednesday against Van Nuys.

Against North Hollywood, she was limited to seven points before fouling out.

Junior Kathleen Mallon made five three-point baskets and finished with 17 points, and sophomore Weatherspoon had 13 points, 13 rebounds and six steals. Clay had five points and 11 rebounds. Mui was limited to two points.

Sophomore Deja Cruz came off the bench to score eight points for Grant.

North Hollywood guard Angelle Hill made nine of 12 shots and scored a career-high 20 points to help compensate for an off-night by All-City guard Tashean Thomas, who scored 12 points on three-of-17 shooting. Thomas had seven assists.

Hill scored eight points during a 25-5 run in the second quarter that turned a 16-15 deficit into a 38-21 halftime lead.

“We’re certainly a team of runs,” Allen said.

Said Brumwell: “We tried to trade punches with them, instead of slowing things down and just going for a basket at a time.”

Richelle Sherman added eight points and eight rebounds for North Hollywood.

The Huskies made 30 of 64 shots (47%), compared to 20 of 69 (29%) for Grant.