Poly wins title by routing Millikan

In her final Southern Section championship game, Jasmine Dixon did what she does best.

Win. And dominate.

The Southland’s best player led the Southland’s best team to a 66-33 victory over Long Beach Millikan on Friday at the Walter Pyramid, giving Long Beach Poly its third Division I-AA title in Dixon’s four years.

The season that the Jackrabbits didn’t win the championship, they did win the first of consecutive state titles.

That’s the kind of effect the 5-foot-11 Rutgers-bound guard/forward has had on the program, which has been to the section finals the last eight seasons but had only one championship, in 1995, before Dixon’s arrival.

Dixon scored 14 points, with 10 rebounds, four blocks and four steals, despite leaving the game about four minutes into the third quarter.

“I’m happy to come in and start a tradition,” Dixon said. “It means a lot to come in and win a section championship, and then leave with a section championship.”

Monique Oliver, a 6-3 post player who had 14 rebounds, and Ariya Crook-Williams scored 12 apiece for Poly (26-2).

Second-seeded Millikan (27-4) defeated Poly, 51-46, on Jan. 7, making the Rams the only Southland team to beat the Jackrabbits the last two seasons. Poly avenged that defeat, 55-42, then put an exclamation point on the rivalry by opening a 36-point lead late in the fourth quarter.

The Jackrabbits will certainly be the No. 1-seeded team in the Southern California Regionals that begin Monday for State Division I teams. Poly is ranked No. 3 in the state by CalHiSports.com, and Millikan is ranked sixth.

The first quarter ended with Poly holding a 14-6 lead. The Jackrabbits stretched the margin to 31-10 at halftime, and 42-15 going into the fourth quarter.

April Cook, a 5-7 guard headed to Washington State and largely overshadowed by Poly’s dominant inside tandem of Dixon and Oliver, locked down Millikan’s best player, Courtney Clements. The 6-1 Arizona-bound guard/forward had five points at halftime and finished with eight.

The Poly defense was typically suffocating. It seemed to contest every movement from the opening tip. Poly blocked five shots in the first half, and didn’t allow Millikan any scoring run greater than four points. The Rams were 10 for 51 from the field, were outrebounded, 49-33, and committed 21 turnovers.

Both teams play their first-round games in the regional tournament Monday, while Divisions II through V begin Tuesday.

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Redondo 56, Manhattan Beach Mira Costa 42 -- The Sea Hawks (27-3) won their third title on the strength of Atonye Nyingifa’s 26 points and 19 rebounds, and an 11-2 run in the second quarter that broke open a 14-12 Division I-A game. Mikah Maly-Karros scored 19 -- 10 in the fourth quarter -- with 15 rebounds for Mira Costa (25-6).

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