PREP WRAPUP : Morningside Girls’ No. 1 Hopes Fade With 2nd Loss

High expectations are always the hardest to live up to.

Morningside High’s girls basketball team realizes that now.

The Lady Monarchs opened the season ranked No. 1 in the nation by USA Today. But after losses to Brea-Olinda and Cannon County of Tennessee in tournaments, Morningside’s dream of a mythical national title appears in jeopardy, to say the least.

Morningside most likely saw its hopes dashed Thursday when Cannon County handed the Lady Monarchs a sobering 72-43 loss in the semifinals of the Best of the U.S. Invitational tournament in Shelbyville, Tenn.

Cannon County, unranked by USA Today, then fell to defending national champion and No. 5-ranked Shelbyville, 72-48, in the finals Friday.

Where does that leave Morningside? Considering that a representive of USA Today reportedly attended the tournament, it’s safe to say the Lady Monarchs will drop from their present position of No. 6; perhaps out of the Top 25.

It’s been a rough two weeks on the road for the Lady Monarchs. First they lost to Brea-Olinda in the Tournament of Champions in Santa Barbara. Then they suffered one of their worst losses ever under Coach Frank Scott to Cannon County.

An ankle injury that greatly limited the playing time of 6-foot-4 sophomore Janet Davis, Morningside’s second-best player, didn’t help. As the team discovered, 6-5 Lisa Leslie can’t do it alone.

But the Lady Monarchs’ season is hardly over.

They return home this week and open Ocean League play at 3 p.m. Wednesday with an important game against North Torrance, led by 5-11 UCLA recruit Laura Collins, perhaps the only player in the area who can match up with Leslie.

Morningside has won seven consecutive league titles and owns a 72-game league winning streak. The team has reached the California Division I finals each of the last two years, winning the title last season.

A national championship may be out of reach, but there are still plenty of honors to play for in 1990.

Narbonne’s basketball team continued its remarkable turnaround Friday night by routing Leuzinger, 73-47, in the championship game of the Torrance Holiday Classic at North Torrance High.

Point guard Gabriel Maciel led the way with 20 points, seven assists and four steals to earn the Most Valuable Player award. But, as Coach Bob Hoppes likes to point out, this is not a one-man team.

Forwards Major Goulsby (20 points, 10 rebounds) and Curtis Boyer (12 points, 10 rebounds, four blocked shots) were both named all-tournament, and guard D’Mitri Rideout (17 points) contributed the game’s most dramatic shot when he sank a three-pointer at the third-quarter buzzer to give Narbonne a 58-38 lead.

“They all work so very hard,” Hoppes said of his players. “Our sixth man (forward Vijay Mani) is just as important as any of the five starters.”

The Gauchos, who were 3-18 a year ago, are 11-3 entering conference play on Friday. Hoppes said a Narbonne alumnus told him that it’s the best start for a Narbonne basketball team since 1972.

Is Hoppes surprised by the team’s record?

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t,” he said. “I knew I had a good basketball team, but they had to learn how to win. Team unity has been important. They’re a very close group.”

Leuzinger (6-2) has now suffered both its losses in the finals of tournaments. Last week, the Olympians lost to Bishop Montgomery, 57-49, in the championship game of the El Segundo Tournament.

“We don’t have that many big-game players,” Coach Phil Sherman said. “It happens every time we have a big game. We’re a lot better than we played today. We just don’t play smart. We’re not a smart team right now.”

Leuzinger led Narbonne, 21-15, after the first quarter but was blown out in the next two quarters, 43-17. Switching to a 1-3-1 zone defense helped the Gauchos in the second quarter, when they shut out Leuzinger’s leading scorer, Adrian McCovey. The 6-5 senior had 10 points in the first quarter and finished with 20 to earn all-tournament honors.

“We had to stop their shooter (McCovey),” Hoppes said.

Strangely, Leuzinger’s 6-8 junior center, Frank Willis, was never a factor in the game. He had five points, three coming in the waning minutes.

“In the last three games,” Sherman said. “he’s been absent.”

Morningside, The Times’ top-ranked South Bay basketball team, suffered its second loss of the season Friday to Bonanza High of Las Vegas, 77-76, in the semifinals of the Viking Classic in Las Vegas.

The Monarchs had a chance to take a three-point lead with 19 seconds left, but forward Tyrone Paul missed two free throws. Bonanza came down and scored the game-winner on a offensive rebound by Jamal Willis with six seconds left.

Bonanza, which met Carson in the final Saturday night, is ranked No. 2 in Las Vegas.

Redondo’s basketball team, off to a 2-9 start, is looking to the future. The Sea Hawks are starting three sophomores and one junior, and their first two players off the bench are juniors.

Coach Steve Shaw is high on 6-4 sophomores Dave Cottey and Ryan Turner and junior guard Jason Correa, who helped Redondo reach the consolation final of the Nogales Tournament this week and was named all-tournament.

A sprained ankle sidelined 6-6 sophomore Art Shell for nearly all of Palos Verdes’ four games in the Chino Tournament this week, but Coach John Mihaljevich hopes Shell will be ready for Wednesday night’s Bay League opener against Hawthorne at Palos Verdes.