Dorsey Is Alone in First Place
Winning a basketball game at Crenshaw is hard enough, but when you add in the cross-town rivalry with Dorsey and the fact that both teams began their game Friday undefeated in Coliseum League play, it’s easy to understand how the Dons felt before the game.
“We were a little nervous, a little scared,” said Dorsey senior Jonathan Heard.
Once the game got going, though, Dorsey turned those feelings into hustle and used a tough third-quarter defense to secure an 86-77 victory and take sole possession of first place.
It was the first home loss for the Cougars (11-4, 3-1) this season and the first Dorsey victory at Crenshaw in longer than Don Coach Kevin Gibons can remember.
“I don’t sit around and keep track of those things,” Gibons said. “It doesn’t happen that often. It’s tough coming in here, and especially for us. Any time you have Dorsey-Crenshaw, it’s tough.”
Dorsey (16-2, 4-0) trailed, 42-36, at halftime but forced 10 turnovers and blocked three shots in the third quarter to take a 58-51 lead.
The Dons closed the quarter with a 15-2 run and then made 11 of 12 shots from the field in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.
“This is one of our biggest games,” said Heard, who had 23 points, six rebounds and six assists. “We knew we’d have to outhustle them and we did.”
Chuma Awaji had 19 points for Dorsey, and teammate Dawayne Cotton had 14. Traveon Finister and Anthony Kidd each had 20 to lead Crenshaw, which shot 38% (31 of 81) from the field and had 29 turnovers.
Peter Yoon
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Girls’ Basketball
A scuffle between players broke out in a game that had 57 fouls, seven technical fouls and seven ejections. Additionally, three players fouled out and only nine were on the floor at the finish of Oxnard Pacifica’s 65-62 victory over cross-town host Rio Mesa on Thursday.
Tasha Hernandez scored 17 points for Pacifica, which had a one-player advantage in the final two minutes to protect a one-point lead.
Principals and athletic directors from both schools on Friday reviewed videotape of the incident involving Pacifica’s Rose Nichols and Rio Mesa’s Traci Flores. The fight lasted a couple of seconds, according to Pacifica Athletic Director Howard Davis.
“The two girls involved in the fight clearly should have been ejected,” said Davis, who indicated appeals would be filed with the Southern Section to protect players unfairly ejected. “We found there were three girls ejected that should not have been ejected -- two from Rio Mesa and one from Pacifica -- that were clearly not involved and did not leave the bench area.”
Additionally, Davis observed one Rio Mesa player who was not ejected but should have been after leaving the scorer’s table to join the skirmish. By section rule, ejected players must sit out the following game.
Rio Mesa, 8-11 overall and 1-4 in league play, committed 30 fouls and Pacifica (7-12, 2-3) committed 27.
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Football
Jason Forcier, a three-year starter at quarterback for Santa Ana Mater Dei, has left the school and plans to play his senior season at a school in San Diego County, Monarch Coach Bruce Rollinson said.
Also transferring is Forcier’s brother, Chris, who backed up Jason as a freshman last season. Rollinson said the transfers leave a “big void” in the program because no other quarterback suited up for a varsity game last season.
“It’s wide open at quarterback,” Rollinson said.
Forcier was the team’s leading passer and rusher last season. He threw for 1,370 yards and 10 touchdowns and ran for 801 yards and eight touchdowns in leading the Monarchs (8-5) to the Southern Section Division I semifinals.
Dan Arritt
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Girls’ Soccer
It’s safe to say that defending Southern Section Division II champion Westlake Village Westlake (9-1-2, 5-1-1) will not be able to breeze through the Marmonte League for a second consecutive season.
The sixth-ranked Warriors, who were undefeated in league play (14-0) last season, lost to Thousand Oaks, 3-2, on Jan. 10, and faced a laundry list of player absences as they defeated visiting Simi Valley, 2-0, on Friday.
Among the most notable is a trio of high-impact seniors who were not available for the win Friday. Ashley Jones, the second-leading scorer with 10 goals, is traveling with the Olympic Development Program. Defender Savanna Post has a slightly torn knee ligament and defender Melinda Lowry has mononucleosis.
Westlake Coach Frank Marino said his team would rely heavily on senior midfielder Nicole Remmenga and would gear many of its offensive plays toward freshman forward/midfielder Kate Edwards, the team’s leading scorer with 12 goals. Remmenga and Rebekah Olin scored goals Friday for the Warriors, who started four freshmen.
Elia Powers
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Boys’ Soccer
Forward Richard Flores of Inglewood Animo Leadership has committed to UCLA.
Flores, who has scored 38 goals in 19 games this season, also took recruiting trips to California and Loyola Marymount.
John Ortega
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Wrestling
San Dimas is having an exceptional year on the mat, highlighted by a second-place finish at the La Puente Nogales tournament on Jan. 10 behind Covina Northview, the No. 1-ranked team in the Southland by The Times.
The Saints will compete today in the Laguna Hills Invitational. Though the host Hawks, ranked No. 10, are the favorites, the results will affect Southern Section playoff seedings as San Dimas and Laguna Hills compete in Division V.
Top individuals expected to compete include Scott Prentice (112 pounds) of Alhambra, A.J. Hagen (160) of Laguna Hills, Jimmy Hernandez (189) of Diamond Bar and John Gonzales (140) of La Habra Sonora.
Matt Ishler (215) of Santa Monica, who suffered a concussion at the Five Counties Invitational on Jan. 16, competed in a dual meet against Manhattan Beach Mira Costa on Thursday but has decided he won’t compete today in Laguna Hills. He probably will not compete again until the Southern Section individual qualifying begins Feb. 11.