Mulligan Is Key Addition to Palos Verdes’ Lineup

The new player who will probably help the Palos Verdes High girls’ basketball team the most this season is Kristen Mulligan. She transferred from Rancho Santa Margarita after a sophomore season in which she averaged 23 points a game, was named Olympic League most valuable player and was a first-team All-CIF selection.

Mulligan, a point guard, will fill the scoring role vacated by Lisa Humphreys, who graduated.

The Sea Kings have another set of twin towers this season in Monique Morehouse, a 6-foot-3 junior, and transfer Jeffra Gausepohl. Two seasons ago, it was the 6-5 Burge twins--Heather and Heidi--who gave Coach Wendell Yoshida a unique inside combination.

Gausepohl, a 6-5 junior who moved from Kennett Square, Pa., a small town 20 miles outside of Philadelphia, was an all-district performer last season and will give the Sea Kings added scoring (14.5 points) and rebounding (10 rebounds).

Mimi McKinney, a 5-9 freshman, is the type of player coaches wish they had time to develop. Fortunately, Yoshida does have time to work with McKinney, who was a member of a second-place Amateur Athletic Union 13-and-under team and was named an All-American.

McKinney moved into the Palos Verdes district from San Pedro, where she would have still been in the junior high system because of the three-year high school system in San Pedro.

Yoshida got a strong, experienced inside player when Nicole Dietel, a 6-1 senior, transferred from Westminster High, where she had played on the varsity team for three seasons.