SUN SHINES

Some minor miracles would have to occur for the Chatsworth High girls’ basketball team to beat Narbonne, the top-ranked team in the nation according to USA Today.

“You never know,” Chatsworth Coach Raquel Alotis said. “Maybe if somebody’s hurt [for Narbonne], or fouls out. Or if two people foul out . . . or maybe 10 people will foul out.”

And maybe the planets will be aligned in the Chancellors’ favor when they meet Narbonne in a City championship semifinal at 4:30 p.m. today at L.A. Southwest College.

But even if they’re not, Chatsworth’s fortunes are likely to revolve around the play of standout Liz Sun.

The 5-foot-9 sophomore can play every position but center. Her talent and versatility have helped the Chancellors become the best City Section team in the region.

Sun welcomes the challenge of playing against the best team in the nation, even if Narbonne (28-0) is coming off an 85-47 quarterfinal victory over Grant and routinely routs its opponents.

“We all think it’s going to be fun,” Sun said. “I’m looking forward to it. I think it’s a great opportunity, just to see them. Even if we lose, we’ll be able to say we played them and see how we do.

“Maybe we’ll be able to look at how other teams have done and what we do, and say, ‘Yeah, we only lost by 30.’ ”

The Chancellors (20-5) haven’t experienced defeat often this season, improving on a 16-12 mark last season and a 5-17 record in 1997-98.

“I think we’ve come out and finally made a name for ourselves,” Sun said.

Chatsworth is closing strong.

Co-champions of the West Valley League with El Camino Real, the No. 5-seeded Chancellors defeated No. 4-seeded South Gate, 44-39, in the quarterfinals on Wednesday and are the only City team from the region remaining in the playoffs.

Sun, who has team-high averages of 15.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 4.0 steals and 2.6 assists, was instrumental against South Gate. She collected six points, nine rebounds, five steals and a blocked shot in the first half to help Chatsworth build a 16-point lead. She finished with seven points, 16 rebounds, six steals and two blocks.

“She is a go-to player,” Alotis said. “If there’s 10 seconds left and the game’s on the line, we want to get the ball to her. And besides that, she’s just so versatile that her impact is tremendous, even when she doesn’t score a lot of points.”

Chatsworth will need Sun to shine again today.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Sun said. “We’ll just go out there and do the best we can.”