Harvard-Westlake Hopes Buena Girls’ No. 1 Is Up

It seems Buena High’s girls play a marquee game every week.

On Saturday, the Bulldogs (14-0) play Harvard-Westlake at home in a game featuring the region’s top two teams.

Buena, ranked No. 1 in the nation by ESPN and No. 3 by USA Today, have had little trouble in regional matchups, routing Hart, ranked No. 4 in the region by The Times, and twice posting lopsided victories over Channel League rival Ventura, ranked No. 3.

On Feb. 3, the Bulldogs play defending national champion Narbonne at home in arguably the biggest game ever played in the region.

Valencia (14-3) plays Hart (12-3) on Friday in another important game this week.

Valencia won the Foothill League title last season, the Vikings’ first, and ended Hart’s nine-season reign over the league.

Saugus (14-2) also figures to challenge for the league championship.

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Louisville (9-6) sputtered at the start of the season without injured guard Megan Wiser and forward Sarah Kelso.

Both are back and figure to help the Royals challenge Chaminade and Notre Dame for the second and third playoff spots in a Mission League race that figures to be won by Harvard-Westlake.

Last week, Wiser and Kelso played key roles in a league opening victory over defending league champion Alemany, Louisville’s first over the Indians in several seasons.

“They’re both very important to us,” said assistant coach Ron Haywood. “It’s good to have them back.”

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Alexis Weatherspoon needs 70 points to break the career scoring mark of 1,131 points at Grant.

Weatherspoon, a senior guard, needs 15 steals to break the school mark of 305.

Last week, Weatherspoon tied a school record with 44 points and set another mark with 15 steals, both against Birmingham.

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Steve Lankford fights for and against crimes. It all depends on which job he’s working.

Lankford, a longtime detective for the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department and the girls’ coach at Quartz Hill, is bringing along Alexis Crimes, a 6-3 freshman center.

“Her size is important to us,” said Lankford, who has used Crimes extensively off the bench.

No other player is taller than 5-10 at Quartz Hill (12-3), which hosted Antelope Valley (15-3) Tuesday night in a game for first place in the Golden League.