Harbor Gears Up to Face State’s Top-Ranked Team

The Harbor College and Lassen women’s basketball teams will play today in a quarterfinal game at the state community college tournament in Ventura.

The winner of the 3:30 p.m. game will advance to Friday’s semifinal round. The championship game is scheduled for 8 p.m. Saturday.

Harbor (28-3), the South Coast Conference champion, leads the state in scoring with an average of 93 points a game. The Seahawks are ranked fifth in the state by the JC Athletic Bureau.

Sophomore guard Bridgete Williams, a graduate of Morningside High, averages 39 points. Sophomore forward Lakeisha Melinger averages 19 points. Freshman point guard LaTasha Burnett averages 16 points, 10 steals, nine rebounds and seven assists.

Lassen, the defending champion and top-ranked team in the state, averages 87.8 points. The Cougars (32-1) won the Golden Valley Conference title.

Sophomore center Melissa Batchelder, most valuable player of last year’s state tournament, leads Lassen with an 18.3-point average. Freshman forward Emmat Witkowski averages 15.7 points. Sophomore point guard Margie Tilbrook leads the state in assists at 9.8.

Today’s other quarterfinal games will feature Allan Hancock (26-3), the only team to beat Lassen, against Orange Coast (27-5) at 1:30 p.m.; Siskiyous (22-8) against Ventura (26-4) at 5:30, and Fresno (26-9) against Golden West (34-2) at 7:30.

If the Seahawks win today, they will play the winner of the Siskiyous-Ventura game on at 8 p.m. Friday.