State Basketball Championships : This Crusade Has Been Too Easy for Valley Christian Girls

OAKLAND —  One by one, the opponents fell without causing the Valley Christian High School girls’ basketball team much trouble. There has been little playoff crunch time for the Crusaders from Cerritos, just a lot of crunches.

The playoffs have brought seven victories by an average of 36.7 points. Atascadero was the only team to keep the final margin within 20, losing the Southern Section 1-A title game, 64-50. Last Saturday, Valley Christian, running its record to 27-2, beat Lompoc, the 2-A champion, by 29 in the Southern California Regional final.

So, strange as it may seem, it will be a relatively untested Crusader team, a winner of 25 straight, that plays Red Bluff (28-2) for the state Division II girls’ title here today. In fact, when you get right down to it, a tough game would certainly be a change of pace for Valley Christian.

“One of the things that has surprised me is the margin we’ve been beating some teams,” Coach Eleanor Dykstra said earlier this week. “I was very surprised at the margin Saturday. But I think in reflecting upon the team, our strength is the balance. So if they (Red Bluff) want to double-team any of our kids, basically (Donna) Pollema or (Kari) Parriott, those two have somewhere else to pass to. We have the ability for the other kids to put the ball in the hoop.

“You’re winning by 30, but you still had things you knew you had to work on. We worked hard this year, but then we also reached our goals and reached Oakland. I think that’s our reward.”

Several other area teams have earned the same payoff--a chance to play in the Oakland Coliseum Arena for the state title. Between 11 a.m., with the girls’ Division III game, and about 10:30 p.m., when the boys’ Division I winner has been determined, six champions will be crowned.

Top billing in the boys’ section will go to Santa Ana Mater Dei (30-1) and Concord Ygnacio Valley (28-6) in the finale scheduled for 8:15 p.m. The Monarchs, the three-time Southern Section 5-A champions coming off an impressive win over Fairfax in the regional final, are making their first trip to the title game and are playing the surprise winner of the Northern California tournament, an Ygnacio Valley team that was given the last of three at-large spots in the regional and seeded eighth.

But Southern California teams arriving here as solid favorites means nothing, especially when a partisan crowd of 12,000 fills the arena. Crenshaw almost was a victim two straight years. The Cougars had to go into overtime to beat Union City Logan in 1985 and needed a last-second shot by Ronald Caldwell last season to edge Oakland Bishop O’Dowd.

Santa Monica Crossroads, the Southern Section 1-A champion with a 22-5 record, is the only Los Angeles-area team making its second straight appearance. The Roadrunners, who lost in the state title game in 1986, are led by guards Chris Brown, Matt Bailey and Michael Arnold, and center David Wolfe going into their 12:45 p.m. meeting with Colusa (27-1). That will be the second game of the day, after the Woodlake-Willows matchup in girls’ Division III.

At 4:30, Irvine Woodbridge, with junior center Adam Keefe, will play for the boys’ Division II title against Richmond DeAnza (31-3). The Warriors won the Southern Section 3-A title and are 27-5.

In the Division I girls’ game, All-American center Terri Mann, averaging 38 points and 27 rebounds a game, and Point Loma will go for their fourth straight title and a 34-0 record. The Pointers’ opponent, just as last season, will be Sacramento Grant (33-1).

Prep Notes Prime Ticket will televise the Division I boys’ game live with Geoff Witcher and Brad Holland doing the announcing. . . . Hawthorne, with sophomore Curtis Conway, seniors Robert Carroll and Yki Vallery and junior Travis Hanna, ran 3 minutes 19.44 seconds last Sunday, winning in what would have to be considered the greatest indoor prep mile relay ever at the Pathmark national indoor meet at New Haven, Conn. The Cougars’ time is the fourth-best in the event, and Central of Philadelphia, at 3:19.82, and Davidson of Mobile, Ala., at 3:19.98, moved into seventh and ninth places, respectively. Still another team, Woodsen of Washington, D.C., wasn’t far behind at 3:20.40. Hanna clocked a 48.9 anchor leg to hold off Central’s William Reed, who ran a blazing 46.0. . . . Lisa Hardy of Santa Monica struck out 21 batters last Thursday in the Vikings’ 11-0 softball win over Santa Monica St. Monica, second best all-time in the Southern Section for strikeouts in a game. The two-time all-league junior finished the game with a one-hitter. . . . Tom Richards has resigned after eight years as football coach at Sylmar.