PREP BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES : City Girls : Washington Takes On Westchester

Phil Chase, Washington High School girls’ basketball coach, is confident. Which is strange when you consider that he labeled Westchester as the girls’ team in the City Section at the start of the season and that he stands by it now.

“I was thinking about how I said at the beginning of the (season), ‘They’re better than everyone else,’ and I still think it’s true,” Chase said.

“But I was also thinking how we beat two league champions--Kennedy and Banning--to get to the finals. We’re playing the best we have all year.

“If they play their best game, they’re going to win. If they don’t, we’re going to win.”

In the City 4-A division final at 5:15 p.m. today at the Sports Arena, Chase will get to see just how far his Generals have come in the playoffs since losing two Mid-City League games to Westchester, The Times’ No. 1 City team all season.

“They have the City’s two best players, they have experience, they have depth,” Chase said. “They have everything.”

Trisha Stafford and Tammy Story are the players Chase had in mind. Stafford, headed for Cal, is the City’s premier post player, a 6-foot 2-inch forward with power moves to the hoop. USC-bound Story, the City’s best guard, is an excellent three-point shooter and inside player, and serves as a virtual coach on the floor.

Guard Relinda Reed spends most of her time in Story’s shadow, but she is an adequate shooter and an inspiring leader. Dana Jones and senior rebounding specialist Tammie Sadler give Westchester a starting five that’s unmatched in the City.

Chase will combat this talent with his secret, especially-created-for-the-final “freak” defense. He took the name--but not the defense--from Lousiana State Coach Dale Brown.

“They’re going to see some things that they have never seen before,” Chase said. “A lot of change-ups, many different looks. We hope to disrupt them a little bit and take them out of their normal game.”

Washington (14-10) has benefited from the development of guard Detra Lockhart, who averaged 13 points a game during the regular season. She has come on in the playoffs, scoring 30 points as the Generals broke Granada Hills Kennedy’s 110-game home winning streak in the quarterfinals.

“In the playoffs, she’s been a great, great clutch player,” Chase said. “She got 20 at the Sports Arena against Banning (in the semifinals) and nearly beat Kennedy by herself.”

Battling Stafford in the front court will be Erika Stinson, who averaged 10 points and 14 rebounds a game. Stinson had 10 games in which she took down more than 20 rebounds this season.

Experience in early season tournaments helped both teams get to the final. Westchester suffered both its losses to bigger Southern Section teams in the Morningside tournament, and Washington played some of the Southland’s best teams in in the Artesia tournament.

“In retrospect, that helped a lot,” Chase said. “I was worried when we were losing all those games, but the experience came through. They’re not afraid of anybody.”

3-A

Reseda and North Hollywood will play for the third time this season today in the City 3-A title game at 4 at the Sports Arena.

Reseda (21-1) and North Hollywood (17-4) have faced one another five times in the last two years--four times in West Valley League play and last season in the City championship game.

“I’ve been involved in a lot of rivalries,” North Hollywood Coach Rich Allen said. “But the thing with Reseda, which makes it so good, is that both teams respect each other so much. We’ve never had any altercations. It’s just good basketball.”

The rivalry has been slightly one-sided, of late. Reseda beat North Hollywood for the title last season and won both league meetings this season, each time by a point.

Allen was swift to point out that “It’s really hard to beat a good team three times in one year.”

Last season, North Hollywood beat Reseda in the first two meetings before losing in the final.

Neither team has relied on one player to get them back to the Sports Arena. “We don’t have any dominant player,” Reseda Coach Andrea Francola said. “Everybody shares in why the team is as successful as it is.”

Cheryl Hightower is Reseda’s leading scorer with a 16-point average, and the Regents, The Times’ No. 2-ranked City team, have had major contributions from Sharlene Cirrito and Frida Kalajian, each averaging about 13 points.

Sandrine Rocher leads North Hollywood with an 18.3 scoring average. Michelle Cabaldon averages 15, and Leticia Carranza, an All-City point guard, averages 6.4 assists a game.