Narbonne’s Funn Commits to USC

Two Harbor City Narbonne girls’ basketball players announced their college commitments as Jamie Funn chose USC and Indi Johnson selected Purdue.

Narbonne Coach James Anderson said USC was the top choice all along for Funn, a 6-foot-3 forward. Johnson, a 6-4 forward, chose the Boilermakers over California, UC Santa Barbara, Boston College and Old Dominion.

Funn averaged 10.1 points, 9.2 rebounds and 3.2 steals last season and Johnson averaged 8.2 rebounds for the Gauchos, who went 27-4 and reached the Southern California Division I regional final.

Eric Stephens

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Rankings held to form--barely--when North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake traveled to Tustin High on Thursday to take on Santa Ana Foothill in a boys’ water polo match that went down to the final seconds.

Marty Matthies scored three goals to lead the Wolverines, No. 3 in The Times’ rankings and No. 2 in the Southern Section Division I poll, to a 7-6 victory. Jay Connolly had seven saves for Harvard-Westlake (9-0).

Foothill, ranked No. 7 by The Times and No. 4 in Division I, trailed, 6-3, after three quarters, but drew to within 6-4 early in the fourth. Geoff Wills and Frank Reynolds scored twice for the Knights (6-4), who closed to within 7-6 with 1:34 to play on Bryan Oland’s goal.

Dan Loumena

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Dominique Lastrapes of Laguna Hills has committed to play softball at Washington. Lastrapes, a second baseman at Laguna Hills, had a school-record .560 batting average last season.

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Jamie Waldecker of Garden Grove Pacifica has committed to play softball at Nebraska. A catcher, Waldecker said she chose Nebraska over Louisiana State.

Martin Henderson

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Martin Iti, the 6-foot-11 Australian basketball player who made two stops in Orange County, has enrolled at Durham (N.C.) Mt. Zion Academy, his seventh high school in five states since arriving in the United States in May 1998.

The 19-year-old senior center, considered among the best big men in his class, has committed to UNC Charlotte. He will spend this season playing for Mt. Zion, whose alumni include Orlando Magic All-Star Tracy McGrady and Phoenix Sun rookie Amare Stoudamire.

Iti played at Anaheim Servite during the 1999-2000 school year before transferring to Villa Park, where he served a yearlong athletic suspension for misleading school officials about his academic status.

Iti spent last year at the Winchendon School, a small New England prep school, where he averaged 11 points and seven rebounds.

J. William LaBelle, Winchendon’s headmaster, said Iti’s guardians requested a transcript in June.

“As far as we can figure, they thought his basketball fortunes would rise if he went elsewhere,” LaBelle said.

“He was a great kid here, did well in the classroom and was a perfect gentleman. It wasn’t as if he had any particular problems.”

Ben Bolch