No Whining Until Valley Starts Winning

Coaches and players from the Valley complained about a “lack of respect” when the City Section basketball playoff pairings were released Saturday.

Based on recent history, the Valley deserves no respect.

Throughout the 1990s, Valley teams have gone down to defeat with regularity in the first round of the 4-A playoffs, let alone advance to the semifinals or final.

Valley teams have a combined record of 9-29 in first-round games this decade. And two of those victories came in all-Valley matchups. Twice, in 1998 and 1996, not one Valley team won a first-round game.

“For us to get respect, we certainly need to win more games in the playoffs,” said Coach Howard Levine of Grant.

Crenshaw has inflicted several of the most embarrassing defeats on Valley teams, wiping out Grant, 112-73, last season, knocking off North Hollywood, 125-58, in 1996 and defeating Van Nuys, 115-49, in 1993.

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Westlake’s reward for making the playoffs? A first-round game at Compton Dominguez, the ninth-ranked team in the nation.

“We’re going for that ‘Hoosiers’ tape,” Westlake Coach Gary Grayson said.

At first, the Warriors (11-15) were overlooked by the Southern Section seeding committee, which accidentally matched Moorpark against Dominguez in a Southern Section Division I-A game Friday.

But Grayson appealed to seeding committee members, bringing to their attention that Moorpark finished seventh in the Marmonte League. Westlake was fourth.

The committee corrected its mistake, setting up a rough road trip for the Warriors.

“We love those cake walks,” joked Grayson.

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Saugus (14-12), third in the Foothill League, is faced with the daunting task of playing a first-round game at Simi Valley on Friday in the Southern Section Division I-A playoffs.

Simi Valley (25-2), undefeated in the Marmonte League, is ranked No. 1 in The Times’ regional poll.

Said Saugus Coach Jeff Hallman: “Somebody’s got to play them.”

GIRLS’ NOTES

They’ve almost flipped out at Channel Islands High.

After a bad-luck run in a series of coin flips, the Raiders went from being tri-champions in the Pacific View League . . . to a mandatory appearance in a wild-card game of the Southern Section Division I-AA playoffs. On the road.

Channel Islands, which tied Camarillo and Oxnard for the league title, must travel to Santa Maria on Thursday, a tough draw for a team ranked among the region’s best most of the season.

“That’s just not right,” Coach Pat Bell of Channel Islands said. “We played a tough schedule and our overall record [19-7] is good. It’s just disappointing.”

Camarillo (14-12) won the series of coin flips and is seeded as the league’s top team; Oxnard (13-14) is seeded second.

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On another side of the coin, there is such thing as an acceptable toss loss.

Ventura lost a flip with Santa Barbara for the right to be the Channel League’s second-seeded team, though Santa Barbara has a tougher first-round game in the Division I-A playoffs.

The Dons, (15-11), who tied Ventura for second place, must travel to Crescenta Valley (22-4), ranked No. 2 in the region.

Ventura (18-10) must travel to Hart (15-9), which lost to Saugus last week.

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Burroughs finished last in the Foothill League and will miss the Southern Section playoffs for the first time in 15 seasons.

“On the bright side, Burroughs can say it won its last game of the season for the first time in a long time,” Coach Doug Nicol said.

Burroughs defeated Burbank, 40-38, in a league finale.

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Two more significant league winning streaks were snapped last week when Saugus upset Hart and Royal upended Moorpark.

Saugus’ 39-33 victory ended Hart’s Foothill League streak at 47 games, while Royal ended a Musketeer streak that had stretched over 27 Frontier and Marmonte league games.

Earlier this season, Muir ended Crescenta Valley’s Pacific League winning streak at 37 games.

Buena of the Channel League leads the region with a 66-game league winning streak. Providence is second with 31 consecutive Liberty League victories.

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Littlerock will be short-handed when it travels to Glendale for a Division I-AA wild card game.

The Lobos, who lost their final two Golden League games after leading scorer and rebounder Kristel Jones was declared academically ineligible, may also be without all-league senior guard Jameka Taylor, who injured her hip Thursday against Quartz Hill.

Staff writers Eric Sondheimer and Vince Kowalick, and correspondents Mike Bresnahan and Dave Desmond contributed to this notebook.

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City Section Mediocrity

City Section boys’ basketball teams from the Valley have struggled in the 4-A playoffs this decade, recording a 9-29 record in first-round games:

1998: 0-5

1997: 2-2

1996: 0-4

1995: 2-2

1994: 1-3

1993: 1-4

1992: 1-3

1991: 1-3

1990: 1-3