Simmons Given Clearance, Will Make Lynwood Debut

Kameca Simmons, who played last season for Southern Section Division I-AA runner-up Long Beach Poly and transferred before the end of the school year to Division I-AA and state champion Lynwood, was granted a hardship waiver last week by Southern Section Commissioner Jim Staunton.

It is the second time that Simmons has used a hardship waiver to transfer. The first occurred during her freshman year, which allowed her to transfer from Compton Dominguez to Poly without a change of address. That transfer was for academic reasons, according to Melvin Simmons, Kameca’s father.

He also said the second transfer was because of academics, and told The Times this year it was not a basketball-related issue.

A Southern Section spokesman said “her parents split, and under the hardship criteria, that qualifies as unavoidable, unforeseeable and uncorrectable. She went to live with one of her parents.”

Simmons’ brothers, junior Marlin, and sophomore twins Marcel and Marcello, play football for Long Beach Poly, which was ranked No. 1 in the Southland during the regular season, but her brothers did not transfer to Lynwood.

Without Simmons in the lineup, Lynwood won the Lone Star Classic in San Antonio behind most valuable player Sade Wiley-Gatewood and all-tournament players Lorie Rayford and Sade Cunningham. Lynwood’s five victories in San Antonio included a 58-55 defeat of Forestville (Md.) Bishop McNamara, which was ranked No. 2 in the country -- behind Lynwood -- by Student Sports Magazine.

“It’s obviously going to give us a bonus,” Coach Ellis Barfield said. “[Simmons is] going to fit into the rotation pretty well.”

Simmons should make her debut for Lynwood (5-0) this week, when it plays Wednesday through Sunday at the Nike Tournament of Champions in Phoenix, an event the Knights won last season.

Lynwood has a 38-game winning streak.

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Though freshmen such as Latara Darrett from Chino Hills Ayala and Morghan Medlock from Harbor City Narbonne get most of the notice, Bridgette Reyes scored all six of her points to help Irvine Woodbridge close out a 50-47 upset of Redondo. Playing in her second varsity game, Reyes’ three-pointer gave Woodbridge a 47-44 lead, and her three free throws with three seconds remaining broke another tie. A week earlier, she played with the junior varsity.

Said Coach Eric Bangs, whose teams have won state championships: “I don’t think we’ve had many wins better than this in 16 years.”

Said Reyes, a guard: “This is what I came to play for.”

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In a scheduling quirk, Burbank Burroughs played Crescenta Valley in back-to-back games.

Crescenta Valley got a three-point basket from Jenine Deno with 14 seconds left to give her team the lead in a 59-55 upset in the championship game of its own tournament. Burroughs, in that game, played without two starters and had three of its nine players foul out.

“With our [aggressive] style, when you’re down to nine healthy bodies, you have to play differently,” said Coach Doug Nicol. “When we have everybody, I’m not too worried.”

Four nights later in a nonleague game, Burroughs beat the Falcons, 47-43.

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A nonleague game Monday between Sherman Oaks Notre Dame and host Beverly Hills was halted by mutual agreement after 2 minutes 10 seconds because of rain-related safety concerns.

Droplets of rain were falling onto the floor through open windows in the gym’s roof. Maintenance workers were called to try to close the windows, forcing the game’s start to be delayed by about 35 minutes, Notre Dame Coach Jason Perez said.

When Beverly Hills Principal Ben Bushman was alerted to the situation, he said “if there were any drops at all, we would have to cancel the game,” Perez said.

A game is scheduled between Beverly Hills and Pasadena today in the same gym.

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Jessie Thompson, who led Temecula Valley last season with a 16.7 scoring average, could be out for the rest of the season. She suffered a torn meniscus in October, but didn’t get a correct diagnosis until last week. She’s out until at least Feb. 1....Hart may be without Brandi Kimble, who transferred to Lynwood, but the Indians are getting 20 points a game from sophomore Ashlee Trebilcock and are off to a 5-1 start, including a split of two games with Palmdale. “I like this team,” Coach Dave Munroe said. “We have seven seniors and really good team chemistry.”

Correspondent Steven Herbert contributed to this report.