Narbonne Bond Won’t Be Broken

There are plenty of reasons why no Southland teams have reached the NCAA women’s basketball championship game for a while.

One South Bay team produced two of them.

Loree Moore, a 5-foot-9 sophomore guard, is at Tennessee and Willnett Crockett, a 6-2 freshman forward, is at Connecticut. They were teammates at Harbor City Narbonne High, where they played on a state championship team in 2001.

They are friends, but that friendship will be set aside a couple of hours tonight when Connecticut tries to defend its national championship against Tennessee in the Georgia Dome.

Yet no rivalry will make Crockett forget an act of kindness by Moore.

Crockett, who averaged 5.7 points and 4.4 rebounds, struggled early in the season with classes, homesickness and playing for one of the game’s more demanding coaches in Geno Auriemma. Her spirits had reached a low point in November when she got a pep talk via e-mail from Moore.

“I just told her to work hard every day and go out there and change her game, trying to make her reach new heights,” Moore said.

Moore is being modest, according to Crockett.

“She had played for [Auriemma] on the USA team during the summer,” Crockett said. “She said, ‘I know how he is, and being a freshman you’re gonna make mistakes. So don’t get down on yourself. You’re there and you can become a great player.’

“[Those words] really came at the right time.”

Moore, who averaged 6.3 points and led the Lady Vols in steals and assists, didn’t know much about the Connecticut-Tennessee rivalry before arriving in Knoxville, Tenn.

“I knew about it, but didn’t feel it until I got here, until we played them,” she said. “I still really don’t know that much about it. But it is a big deal. You’ve got to bring your ‘A’ game when you play them.”

Moore said she definitely wants a different ending than last year’s Final Four meeting, when Connecticut routed Tennessee, 79-56, at San Antonio.

“It was great to be there, but our team wasn’t ready,” she said. “UConn was just rolling, playing their best basketball and it got embarrassing, playing the way we did. We are totally different this year, totally focused on what we have to do.”