DIVISION I BASKETBALL PREVIEWS : GIRLS

In successive years, Mt. Carmel went from holding the keys to the section to watching as the locks were changed. Now what for an encore?

Tonight at 6, top-seeded Mt. Carmel (21-5) meets second-seeded Santana (24-4) in a rematch of the 1988 San Diego Section Division I girls’ basketball final, which Mt. Carmel won, 57-47.

The Sundevils danced with history then. But a year later, they tripped over their own feet, losing to Santana, 54-46, in the quarterfinals.

It was in a semifinal two years ago that Mt. Carmel was able to do something that hadn’t been done in the section playoffs for three years and hasn’t been done there since: defeat Point Loma. The Pointers had won three consecutive section, Southern California Regional and state Division I championships. The upset was one of the biggest of the tournament.

Tuesday in a semifinal against Poway, a team it had beaten only once in four meetings this season, Mt. Carmel again scored a magical victory.

“We hate drawing parallels,” Mt. Carmel Coach Peggy Brose said. “Beating Point Loma, that was special and emotional for us. Poway was the emotion this year.”

It was so emotional that Santana Coach Wade Vickery said Mt. Carmel should be content with it.

“I think they should be satisfied with that, then take it easy on us,” he said. “They won the Poway championship.”

And about that beachfront property in Arizona . . .

Brose said she discussed the possibility of a letdown with her players at length.

“We said let’s not be content with that,” she said. “We put Poway in perspective. You don’t play just to get to the final. So there’s no problem with motivation.”

Four of the players in this final saw considerable playing time in 1988: junior Vicki de Jesus (5-8, 17-point average) of Mt. Carmel and three from Santana: senior Rebecca Aase (5-8, 19) and juniors Stephanie Thompson (5-10, 18) and Desiree Weimann (5-4, 18).

Vickery said it will help to have three girls who are experienced and not in awe of reaching a section championship.

Mt. Carmel is concerned with all three but especially Weimann. She was missing when Mt. Carmel defeated Santana, 58-54, in December.

“She’s the floor leader,” Brose said. “She makes them go. I’ve seen them play with her and without her. They have a hard time carrying the floor without her.”

Santana primarily wants to keep de Jesus in check.

“We don’t want de Jesus to go crazy on us,” Vickery said.