5 County Teams Vie for State Trip

Four county girls’ teams and one boys’ team continue play tonight in the Southern California basketball playoffs.

The Brea Olinda girls and Mater Dei boys have been down this road before, but Foothill, Rosary and Calvary Chapel are new to the regional semifinals.

Tonight’s winners are one victory from the state title game in Sacramento. The Regional finals are Saturday at Cox Arena in San Diego and the Pyramid. All games are at 7:30 p.m., except for Foothill, which plays at 6.

Manual Arts (28-3) hosts Mater Dei (32-3) tonight at Loyola Marymount’s Gersten Pavilion in Division I. The Toilers forced 27 turnovers in a 79-65 victory over L.A. Fairfax.

The Toilers are led by guard James Wright, who has signed with Long Beach State, forward Brandon Moorer (Texas A&M;) and Johnny Hardwick (Texas A&M;). Wright has averaged 24 points in the playoffs.

A key matchup pits Hardwick (6-10) against Mater Dei sophomore center Jamal Sampson (6-10), a transfer from defending state Division I champion Westchester, which eliminated the Toilers from the City Section playoffs last year.

Top-seeded Brea Olinda (29-3), trying to reach a record eighth girls’ basketball state title game, continues that quest tonight at home against La Puente Bishop Amat (27-3) in a Division II game.

The Lancers have height inside with 6-foot-4 Shannon Wosman (16 points, 10 rebounds) and an effective perimeter player in Allison Box (16 points), who made five three-point baskets in a 71-49 victory over Culver City in the first round of the regionals.

But the key for the Lancers is setting up their half-court offense against Brea’s defensive pressure, which forced 77 turnovers in its last two games.

Foothill’s travel nightmare hits high gear when it plays in Fresno, also in a Division II game. The Knights (28-4), who Tuesday beat San Diego University City, 56-41, will play second-seeded Fresno Edison, an 83-73 winner over Culver City in the first round. Edison reached last year’s regional title game before losing to Brea, 64-52, a game in which they trailed, 54-50, with 2 minutes 4 seconds remaining. The Tigers (27-1) have three starters back from that team, 6-1 1/2 center Tonisha Yancey (24.7 points, 12 rebounds), 6-1 guard Kendra Yancey (12 points) and 5-11 forward Java Johnson (15.5 points, 11 rebounds).

Rosary (23-8), boosted by the return of injured center Romina Bollini in the last two games, faces Inglewood Morningside (22-9) at Servite. The Monarchs upset second-seeded North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake for the Division III-A title, and beat Dinuba, 59-39, in the first round.

In Division IV, Calvary Chapel (26-5) plays in its home gym against Morro Bay (22-7), which defeated the second-place team from the Olympic League to claim the section’s Division IV-A title. Morro Bay defeated Cerritos Valley Christian, 53-29, shooting 52.2% in the first half and opening a 31-14 lead.

Calvary Chapel, the Olympic League champion, defeated Valley Christian twicethis season.

Cathy Joens, who averaged 16.1 points during the regular season, has averaged 23.7 in the last three games for Calvary Chapel.