Girls Hoops Host Tourney

Before he learned he wouldn’t be back this season, former Palisades High girls basketball coach Kevin Hall filed the necessary paperwork through the Los Angeles Unified School District for Pali to host a pre-league tournament. The first annual ‘Palisades Beach Invitational’ was a successful debut for new head coach Ronda Crowley and her team, which wound up 2-2 against stiff competition from the Southern Section. Palisades won its first two pool play games, beating St. Bernard, 52-39, and holding off New Roads in overtime, 44-43. In its third game, Palisades lost to Inglewood and in its last game, for third place, it lost to Santa Monica. Leuzinger finished undefeated to win the tournament. Megan Coulter, Elane Roepke, Zedra Slaton and Jasmine English led the Dolphins, who hosted Washington on Tuesday and travel to Taft for a nonleague game today. Boys Basketball After an easy victory over Narbonne in the first round, the Dolphins were matched against Long Beach Jordan. Palisades led at halftime, 31-27, but Jordan opened the third quarter with a 22-0 run to take control of the game. The Dolphins went scoreless for the first 6:04 of the second half and never got closer than four points in the 65-58 loss. Senior point guard Corey Counts took a hard fall while driving to the basket in the first quarter but finished the game. After falling to Price, 60-47, in the third round, Palisades beat Bishop Montgomery, 54-39, to finish in seventh place. Carl Robertson led the way with 16 points for the Dolphins (2-2), who played at Washington yesterday. Girls Tennis Several Palisades doubles teams are still alive in the All-City Individuals Tournament at Balboa Sports Complex in Encino. Leading the way is the Dolphins’ top tandem of Krista Slocum and Lauren Pugatch, which advanced to the third round with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over a team from Van Nuys. Seeded second, Slocum and Pugatch have yet to lose a set. Also advancing to the third round was Pali’s No. 3 tandem of Lotte Kiepe and Mary Logan, who defeated a Carson duo, 6-4, 6-1, in the second round. The Dolphins’ No. 2 tandem of Brittany O’Neil and Yasmir Navas, seeded fourth, won its first round match but lost in three sets to Kiri Inouye and Jenna Yoshikana of Venice in the second round. Pali’s No. 4 team of Lisa Mesrop and Sarah Jurick fell was eliminated in the first round by a team from Sylmar.. Palisades’ lone singles entrant, Sara Yankelevitz, lost to Monroe’s Sarah de la Cruz in the first round. Play resumes tomorrow. Girls Soccer Palisades lost its season opener, 4-1, at Marymount last Thursday. The Sailors’ roster includes several local players, including Jane Alt, Kelsey Bjelejac, Lauren Hardgrove, Molly McRoskey and sisters Ali and Liza Pisano. The Dolphins traveled to Chatsworth for a nonleague game on Tuesday.