GIRLS' BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK: LILLY EXPANDS SAUGUS THREAT.

Byline: Ramona Shelburne  Staff Writer

When teams go up against No. 1 Saugus, the scouting report usually says, ``Watch out for the big girls.'' With four players who are 6-foot or taller, Saugus boasts one of the top front lines in Southern California.

But teams who have not ended their scouting report there have found another weapon equally as dangerous: freshman shooting guard Taylor Lilly.

``Teams are going to have to start paying attention to her,'' coach Eric Olsson said. ``I like to say, `Great shooters are born, and good shooters can be made.' Taylor was born a great shooter and she works hard at it.''

Through the first eight games, Lilly is leading the team in scoring with 15.4 points per game and shooting an unbelievable 70 percent from the floor and 50 percent from 3-point range.

Saugus (7-1) plays in the Ayala tournament this week. They play Perris on Thursday and meet either Long Beach Poly or Crenshaw of Los Angeles on Friday at 9:30 a.m.

--Gaines update: Burroughs of Burbank junior point guard Tulyah Gaines will make an unofficial visit to Vanderbilt the weekend of Feb. 1-3. Burroughs (7-3) coach Doug Nicol will accompany Gaines on the visit to watch the Commodores play against Tennessee.

As a junior, Gaines already is one of the most coveted recruits in the area, having received interest from defending national champion Connecticut, Notre Dame, USC, UCLA and current No. 1 Duke. It will be her first unofficial visit.

Gaines averaged 21.5 points in four games at the Burroughs tournament last week, but her team dropped a game to Westlake in pool play and finished third.

Gaines scored 31 of those points in Burroughs' 67-40 victory over Monroe of North Hills (5-2) in the third-place game.

``Tulyah's been playing her brains out, but some of the other players need to step it up,'' Nicol said. ``We just couldn't make a shot against Westlake and earlier in the week against Alemany.''

--Why are we playing you? Monroe coach Ron Harris was upset after losing by 27 points to Burroughs, but not at his team.

``I went up to Doug (Nicol) after the game and said, `Why are we playing you?' I wanted to punch him in the nose,'' Harris said, joking. ``The only chance we had to stop Gaines was if she broke her leg or something. She's in another stratosphere, and we didn't have anyone to match up with her.''

To make matters worse, Monroe was playing its second game of the day, having defeated Banning of Wilmington at the Canoga Park tournament.

``And we didn't have our best player, Desiree Norihiro,'' Harris said.

Norihiro, a 5-foot-6 senior guard, injured her shoulder in Monroe's victory over Hoover of Glendale the night before. She is averaging 20 points per game.

--No signs of rust: Sylmar's Janette Herrera didn't play in the 2001-02 season, but she's showing few signs of rust in her return to the court.

Herrera scored 14 points in Sylmar's 58-55 victory over the Timpview of Provo (Utah) junior varsity team in the championship of the Tina Thompson division of the Nike Tournament of Champions in Chandler, Ariz.

Yes, that's the junior varsity of Timpview. The varsity squad won their bracket of the invitation-only tournament by defeating Mater Dei of Santa Ana.

``They have two of the best teams in the country, but one of 'em happens to be the JV team,'' Sylmar coach Michelle Chevalier said. ``Those girls could really shoot. I guess they're from Utah, and it's snowing there all the time, so they practice shooting all day. They shot the lights out.''

Herrera and teammate Brittany Morris were named to the all-tournament team. Mariama Wrighster scored 17 points against Timpview and was chosen as the MVP of the bracket.

Morris, the Valley Mission League Player of the Year last season, received recruiting interest at the tournament from Cornell, San Jose State and New Mexico. She has a 3.65 GPA.

Sylmar (7-2) won all three of its games in Arizona and will compete in the Ayala tournament starting Thursday.

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