Harvard-Westlake Coach Is Marked in Sacramento

Arco Arena has Brian Taylor’s name all over it.

We’ll, maybe not all over it. But it’s there.

The arena, home to the NBA’s Sacramento Kings, denotes franchise records on a wall in the locker room.

Taylor, the Harvard-Westlake High girls’ basketball coach, played for the Kings when the franchise was based in Kansas City and set the team record for steals in a season in 1976-77.

His Wolverines hope to leave their own mark on the place on Saturday.

That’s when Harvard-Westlake will play Lafayette Acalanes for the state Division III championship.

“Now, that will be a thrill,” Taylor said.

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Terry Elledge, Harvard-Westlake girls’ athletic director and softball coach, had a difficult decision to make Saturday.

His softball team had two games in the Hart tournament at the same time the girls’ basketball team was playing the regional final in Long Beach.

He ended up at the Pyramid, watching the Wolverines clinch their first regional championship.

“[Athletic director] is my big job and coaching is the secondary job, so to speak,” he said. “This is where I should be today.”

Elledge will have no such scheduling conflict next week, when Harvard-Westlake travels to Sacramento.

The softball team has an open date on Saturday.

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Corrie Mizusawa scored 12 points for Lafayette Acalanes (27-4) to lead the Dons to a 37-22 victory over top-seeded Loomis Del Oro (28-5) in the Division III Northern Regional on Saturday.

Acalanes led, 22-20, after three quarters before outscoring Del Oro, 15-2, in the final quarter.

Last season, Acalanes entered the Northern Regional ranked No. 1, but was upset in the first round by Sacred Heart Cathedral of San Francisco, which went on to defeat Alemany for the state championship.

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Hayley Munroe of Rosary, niece of Coach Dave Munroe of Hart High, had seven points and three rebounds against Harvard-Westlake.

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Each game, Michelle Ghodsian of Harvard-Westlake is assigned to cover the opponent’s top scorer.

On Saturday, her assignment was to stop Maggie Barnett of Rosary. Barnett, averaging 20 points, scored 29 against Morningside in the regional semifinals.

Against Ghodsian, Barnett managed only nine points through 3 1/2 quarters.

“She was on me pretty tight the whole time,” said Barnett, who scored 13 points in the final three minutes after Harvard-Westlake cleared its bench.