Peninsula Girls Lose McKinney and Game

Peninsula High girls’ basketball Coach Wendell Yoshida couldn’t think of a better way to tune up for the playoffs than playing Christ the King of New York, the nation’s top-ranked team according to USA Today.

That was before Saturday night’s game.

His sentiments were changed after Mimi McKinney suffered a possible fracture in her lower right leg in a 54-31 nonleague loss at Peninsula.

McKinney, the Panthers’ leading scorer, was carried from the court in tears late in the first half after going for a rebound.

“I just came down on it the wrong way,” McKinney said. “It’s so disappointing because we were so close to CIF and we were finally back at full strength.”

Point guard Jill Kennedy had recently returned to the starting lineup after a stress fracture and forward Joanna Whitley was back from arthroscopic knee surgery in December.

“We’ve had so many injuries, I’ve run out of ways to fire the team up,” Yoshida said. “We grew more tonight than from any injury we had all season. You can’t replace a Mimi. I keep asking myself ‘What’s next?’ ”

That will depend on McKinney’s status, who was scheduled to have the leg X-rayed late Saturday night.

Peninsula (16-8), the defending State Division I champion, had defeated Leuzinger Friday to earn the Bay League title with a 8-0 record. The Panthers will play host to an opponent to be determined in the first round of the Southern Section playoffs Saturday night.

With or without the 5-foot-10 McKinney, Peninsula was never in contention against Christ the King (20-0).

Chamique Holdsclaw and Tami McGlynn made consecutive three-point baskets to help the Royals open a 11-3 first-quarter lead.

Holdsclaw, a 6-1 sophomore, had a game-high 16 points for Christ the King, which defeated Fair Oaks of Del Campo, 85-55, Friday night at Peninsula.

The Royals were up, 35-15 when McKinney, who is averaging 21.6 points, left with 29 seconds left in the second quarter with five points.

The Panthers trailed, 16-7 after the first quarter, closing to 20-10 on a free throw by McKinney early in the second quarter.

Peninsula went scoreless over the next four minutes as the Royals increased their advantage to 28-10 on a layup by Jo Jo Guzman with 3:16 left before halftime.

Bishop Montgomery 69, Harrison (N.J.) 23--The Knights were too much for the five-time New Jersey State Sectional champion.

Shelley Dungo had 18 points for Bishop Montgomery (13-8). Natalie Graham and Jamilah Jones scored 14 and 10 points and Robin Hayes added four blocks.

Bishop Montgomery never trailed, scoring the first six points in the opening 28 seconds.

“It was fun to play an out-of-state team,” said Dungo, a 5-6 junior guard said. “They were a lot more aggressive team than we’re used to, but we expected it to be closer.”

Dungo and Stephanie Hale combined for the Knights’ first 18 points to open an 18-2 lead with 3:30 to play in the first quarter.

The Knights, who led, 40-11, at halftime, held Harrison (12-6) without a field goal during for the final seven minutes of the first half and the first 4:20 of the third quarter to build a 49-11 advantage.

The Blue Tide, playing without starting center Jennifer Chu, who was hospitalized with a stomach ailment after a 64-50 loss to North Torrance in a Shootout game Friday, never got closer than 32 points thereafter.

Bishop Montgomery scored 11 consecutive points in the fourth quarter to open its biggest lead, 67-20, with a little more than two minutes to play.

Jennifer Purzycki had a team-high 10 points for Harrison.