Another Chapter for Long Rivalry

When Brea Olinda plays Santa Ana Mater Dei in the Southern Section Division II-A girls’ basketball championship game at 6:30 tonight at the Pyramid in Long Beach, it will mark the continuation of the quintessential Orange County rivalry.

They have met eight times since 1994, and the series is tied, 4-4.

Tonight will be only the second time they have met in the playoffs. Mater Dei won last year’s section semifinal, 51-43.

Third-seeded Mater Dei (17-10) reached the final by shutting down second-seeded Ventura Buena three times in the final seconds for a 42-41 victory Tuesday at Irvine Woodbridge.

“When they called timeout with 22 seconds left,” said Mater Dei Coach Geri Campeau, “I told the girls that the beautiful thing is that defense is going to decide this game, and that’s what this team is most comfortable with, and their eyes just lit up.”

Top-seeded Brea Olinda (25-5) defeated Hesperia, 61-48, in the other semifinal. This is the first trip to the section finals since 2001 for the Ladycats, who have won 12 section titles.

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A debate will be settled when Lynwood plays Long Beach Poly for the Southern Section Division I-AA title at 8:15 tonight at the Pyramid.

There are mixed feelings as to which team is better.

Lynwood (25-2), the two-time defending state and three-time defending section champion, is ranked No. 1 in the Southland by The Times and No. 1 in the state. However, the Knights are ranked No. 2 in the Southern Section by coaches.

Poly (27-2), runner-up to Lynwood the last two seasons, is ranked second by The Times and third in the state, but coaches voted the Jackrabbits No. 1 in the section.

Poly’s formidable guards, senior Judith Smith and junior April Phillips, will have to contend with Lynwood’s All-American senior guard Sade Wiley-Gatewood and the inside presence of 5-foot-9 senior Brandi Kimble and 6-1 freshman Lenita Sanford.

In other Southern Section championship games today at the Pyramid:

* Second-seeded Ojai Thacher (16-3) tries to defend its Division V-AA title against top-seeded Los Angeles Pacific Hills (18-11), which has gone through the playoffs without a single home game, at 4:45 p.m.

The Bruins finished 0-8 in the Olympic League and began the playoffs as an at-large team with a wild-card round game.

* Top-seeded Huntington Beach Liberty Christian (25-4) meets third-seeded Calimesa Mesa Grande Academy (19-7) for the Division V-A title at 3 p.m.

-- Martin Henderson

The City Section boys’ and girls’ championship games Saturday night at the Sports Arena will be televised on tape delay by KLCS, Channel 58.

The girls’ game between Crenshaw and Harbor City Narbonne will be shown Saturday at 7 p.m. The boys’ final between Fairfax and Woodland Hills Taft will air at 10:30 p.m.

-- Eric Sondheimer

Wrestling

Covina Northview will send a Southern Section-best six wrestlers to the state championships, which begin today and continue through Saturday at Centennial Garden in Bakersfield.

Competition begins at 9 a.m. today and 11 a.m. on Saturday. The championships begin around 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Temecula Valley, which finished runner-up to Northview at the Masters Meet on Saturday, qualified five wrestlers for state. Chino Hills Ayala, Atascadero and Santa Ana Calvary Chapel each qualified four.

-- Rafer Weigel

Baseball

Eight teams in The Times’ top 25 preseason rankings are scheduled to open their seasons today in the Anaheim Loara tournament.

Top-ranked Anaheim Canyon and No. 2 Villa Park, both members of the Century League, could meet in the championship game. However, not everyone is looking forward to that matchup.

“We play three times in league,” Canyon Coach Joe Hoggatt said. “That’s probably enough.”

Today’s first-round games: Canyon at Anaheim, Irvine at Villa Park, No. 5 Huntington Beach Marina at Anaheim Katella, No. 6 Santa Margarita at Orange El Modena, Downey at No. 8 Lakewood, No. 16 Cypress at La Mirada, Long Beach Millikan at No. 18 Anaheim Servite and Long Beach Wilson at No. 20 Fountain Valley.

The El Modena-Santa Margarita matchup could prove interesting. El Modena, also in the Century League, is expected to have its best team in years.

The Vanguards return most of their pitching staff and have three all-league position players.

-- Dan Arritt

Chatsworth has won an appeal that will reduce its penalty for allegedly failing to turn in paperwork in a timely manner to the City Section.

The defending City champion Chancellors will be allowed to compete in another tournament this season, adding four games to their schedule. Next year, however, they will lose two nonleague games.

Chatsworth, ranked No. 4 by The Times, opens its season at San Fernando today in a pool-play game of the Westside tournament.

-- Eric Sondheimer

Football

Keith Jones from San Gabriel and Pete Smolin from La Puente Bassett have been named to coach in the San Gabriel Valley Hall of Fame game July 9 at El Monte Arroyo.

Greg Gibson from Orange and Rick Curtis from Irvine Northwood have been named to coach in the Orange County North-South All-Star game July 16 at Santa Ana Stadium.

-- Eric Sondheimer