PREP BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES : Southern Section 1-A Girls : Santa Clara Plays Atascadero, Tries to Start a New Tradition

Santa Clara of Oxnard is back in the Southern Section basketball title game. Lou Cvijanovich will be there, again. This time, though, Cvijanovich will be watching. Tom McConville will be doing the coaching.

Surprising? Cvijanovich, boys’ basketball coach and winner of 12 Southern Section titles in three sports over the last 27 years at Santa Clara, is, after all, the subject of a recently published book and holds legendary status around Oxnard.

But the lesser-known McConville brings a Cvijanovich-like Santa Clara girls’ team into the 1-A championship game against Atascadero tonight at 7:30 at Hancock College.

Santa Clara (22-4) is the No. 2-seeded team and is riding a 16-game winning streak. Of its four losses, three were to Ventura Buena, the No. 2-seeded team in the 4-A division. The other was to Oxnard Rio Mesa, another 4-A playoff team. The Santa Clara girls play an aggressive game built around defense, similar to Cvijanovich’s 2-A boys’ championship team of last season.

Atascadero, a 60-55 winner over defending champion and top-seeded Cerritos Valley Christian in the semifinals, plays an uptempo game. The Greyhounds have strength inside with forwards Cindy Morris and Soti Brazel each averaging in double figures scoring and rebounding. Guard Shelley Hoban is strong defensively.

Santa Clara center Kathy Torres and forwards Cindy Fenske and Kim Weich are the key to the team’s offense. Together they average 30 points and 20 rebounds a game. Tami Adkins is the standout of a defense-oriented backcourt.