West Girls’ Team Has Impressive Record, Now It Wants Respect

The West Torrance High girls’ basketball team is simply seeking respect.

The Warriors (19-5) have one of the best records of any team in the area. They are 6-1 in the Pioneer League and have clinched at least a share of their second title in three seasons.

For that matter, two of their nonleague losses were to Morningside--the state’s top-ranked team in Southern Section Division III--and another was to undefeated Lynwood--the No. 1 team in the Division I.

But the Warriors have yet to receive a vote this season in the Division II rankings.

The only team from the Pioneer League that has been mentioned in the poll is cross-town rival North, which is 16-6 and in third place in the Pioneer at 4-4.

West Coach Kathy Yam said the Warriors feel slighted.

“The girls are frustrated and I’ve been frustrated too,” she said. “But I just tell the girls to just keep doing what they’re doing and good things will happen.”

With four of five starters returning from a team that went 16-10 last season, the Warriors had reason to be optimistic.

“A lot of people around here were concerned about how this team could do because we had basically the same people back from last year,” Yam said. “But I just thought if they gave us time, we’d be OK.”

Yam gives much of the credit to returning guards Laurie Shimizu and Tracy Holman. Shimizu, a 5-foot-4 senior, leads the team with a 17-point average, and Holman, a 5-8 junior, averages 15 points and seven rebounds.

“We don’t have one key player like (former Morningside standout) Lisa Leslie,” Yam said. “We do have two pretty good players, but we don’t have any superstars. When it really comes down to it, we have a group that plays well together.

“In my first year, we took the Pioneer League title with a more talented group, but we play better as a team this year. This team is different from other teams I’ve had because their attitude is better.”

West finished third in the Pioneer League last season and lost to Redondo in the first round of the II-A Division playoffs. Yam has higher expectations this season.

“How far we can go depends on how much we want it,” she said. “But their attitude is good and they definitely want it, so that should make a big difference.”

You can usually count on league title races coming down to the final week of play, but that is not the case in most of the major Southern Section boys’ basketball leagues this season.

Among schools that have clinched at least a share of their league titles are Morningside in the Ocean League, Serra in the Camino Real League, Inglewood in the Bay League and South Torrance in the Pioneer.

The only suspense left is who will receive the remaining playoff berths in each league. Here is a look at how the top playoff races shape up:

Ocean--With its 81-75 win Tuesday over Morningside, Mira Costa (4-3) clinched a playoff berth and put itself in a position to finish second in the league. The Mustangs visit Redondo (3-4) in the league finale for both teams and would clinch second place with a victory. Redondo would clinch second place with a victory because it defeated Mira Costa in the first game between the schools. The winner of Friday’s Culver City-Beverly Hills game also has a chance to finish in a tie for the third and final playoff spot.

Mission--Bishop Montgomery, which has the best record of any area team at 18-2, took a step toward the championship with a 61-59 overtime win over Notre Dame last week. The Knights lead Loyola and Notre Dame in the title race, but may need to win their game Friday at Harvard-Westlake to win the title outright. St. Bernard and Crespi are in the running for the league’s fourth and final playoff berth and the teams play in their league finale Friday at Crespi.

Bay--Inglewood has already clinched the league title, but three teams are battling for two playoff spots. Peninsula appears in good position to finish second and Leuzinger has a chance for third. To accomplish that feat, the Olympians will probably have to upset Peninsula in their final league game Friday at Leuzinger.

Pioneer--South and North have secured the top two playoff spots and Torrance, Centennial and El Segundo will battle for the final playoff spot. Torrance appears in the best shape of the three, even if it doesn’t upset South in its league finale Friday at South.

Expectations were not high for the North Torrance boys’ basketball team at the start of the season, especially after last season’s 8-16 record.

North started slowly, winning only six of 14 games, but the Saxons have turned around the season since the start of Pioneer League play.

North (12-10) has won six of eight league games to clinch at least a share of second place, the first time the Saxons have done that since 1973.

The success of the Saxons has even caught second-year Coach Bill Atkinson, a former player at the school, by surprise.

“We knew we had some good kids coming up, but it would have been hard to say we’d be where we are at this point,” he said.

Atkinson is the first to acknowledge that his team is not oozing with talent.

“We’re too short, we’re not really super quick and we don’t jump real well,” he said.

In fact, the Saxons do not have a starter taller than 6-3 forward Jared Myers.

“We don’t get a lot of opening taps,” Atkinson said. “I’m 6-4 and I’m the tallest guy in the program. Our power forward (Kevin Okada) is about 5-10 and 120 pounds with 20 pairs of socks on.”

So how has North managed to win?

“We don’t have a lot of good athletes, but we just play very well as a team,” he said. “They just work very hard all of the time. What’s been so good about them is they seem to improve almost every game.”

Atkinson expected his team to start slowly because five of his top nine players, including guard Frank Ramirez and forwards Lacy Watkins and Myers, were still playing on North’s football team. Ramirez missed the first seven games because he was recuperating from a broken collarbone suffered playing football.

Atkinson did have reason for optimism. He had his backcourt returning in Jimmy Miller and Ramirez.

“They were both starters last year, and when you have your starters back at guard, that’s a real key,” he said.

Atkinson also expected the team to win some close games, something it didn’t do last season.

That was evident Friday, when North defeated Centennial, 67-65, to clinch a share of second place.

The Saxons appear to be peaking at the right time.

“We’re winning some close games and that’s built confidence in the kids,” Atkinson said. “Right now, I’d say we’re where we want to be at this point of the season.”

Notes

The Peninsula High girls’ basketball team will plays host to the East-West Shootout on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, Peninsula plays Leuzinger in its Bay League finale at 4:30 p.m., North Torrance meets Harrison, N.J., at 6 and New York Christ the King will play Sacramento Del Campo at 7:30. On Saturday, Harrison plays Bishop Montgomery at 6 p.m. and Peninsula meets Christ the King at 7:30. Christ the King is the No. 1-ranked girls’ team in the nation. . . . After not being listed in last week’s poll, the Torrance wrestling team has climbed past cross-town rival West to No. 4 in the Southern Section Division II rankings. The Tartars defeated West, 32-25, last week to win their 11th consecutive Pioneer League title. West, ranked No. 6 in the division, is the only other South Bay team listed in the poll. . . . Outside hitter Ann Windes of the Mira Costa volleyball team, an All-Southern Section 5-A Division selection in 1991, has signed a national letter of intent to attend Pepperdine next season. Windes played for a Mira Costa team that finished at 19-3, won the Ocean League title and lost to Corona del Mar in the second round of the state Division I playoffs last year. . . . The 1942-43 Redondo boys’ basketball team, which won the CIF championship, will be honored at halftime of Friday night’s Redondo-Mira Costa game at Redondo. Two members of the team and the coach, Mel Seifert, have since died, but eight surviving members are expected to attend.

South Bay Boys’ Basketball Top 10

Selected by Times Sportswriters

Through Tuesday’s Games Rank, School, League: Record

1 Morningside (Ocean): 21-5

2 Bishop Montgomery (Mission): 19-2

3 Westchester (Metro): 16-6

4 Serra (Camino Real): 16-7

5 Inglewood (Bay): 15-9

6 Mira Costa (Ocean): 18-6

7 Peninsula (Bay): 16-7

8 South Torrance (Pioneer): 22-2

9 Carson (Southern): 12-9

10 Leuzinger (Bay): 12-11