Valley at Home in the Playoffs : Women’s basketball: Lady Monarchs are again playing host to the state championships, but this time they aim to win.

Tisa Rush, the leading scorer on the Valley College women’s basketball team, believes the Lady Monarchs are better than the Valley team she played on two seasons ago.

The women’s state tournament was held at Valley that year, and Valley finished second. The tournament returns to Valley this season, and, according to Rush, this team is superior.

So . . .

“The consensus is that this is the most balanced (tournament) in years,” said Valley Coach Doug Michelson, who is loath to compare Valley’s teams and no more eager to predict the tournament outcome.

The eight-team state finals will begin today with four teams from the North and four from the South, including area representatives Moorpark and Valley.

Sequoias played host to the tournament last year, and Sequoias Coach Tom Gilcrest believes Valley’s home-court advantage might be a decisive factor in an airtight field.

“From that standpoint alone I would make them the favorite. It’s a heck of an advantage,” Gilcrest said. “If I had to label a favorite, the heck with who’s seeded where. I’d have to go with L. A. Valley.”

Valley (30-4), seeded second in the South, plays in the 8 p.m. nightcap against Bay Valley Conference champion Merritt (28-6), seeded third in the North. Merritt has six players back from a team that qualified for the final eight last season and has added 5-foot-11 shooting guard Inga Marciulionis to a cadre of four returning starters.

Marciulionis, a former Soviet junior national team player and the wife of Golden State Warrior guard Sarunas Marciulionis, is averaging 22.7 points. Merritt’s other big gun, or perhaps little gun, is 5-1 point guard Tavia Dendy.

“She’s the best point guard we’ve had in 11 years,” Merritt Coach Fred Brown said of Dendy, who had a school-record 203 steals this season.

Michelson said Valley point guard Sylvia Castaneda is rounding back into form after an ankle injury sustained in the first round of the regional, and off-guard Rush has scored 59 points in two tournament games. Center Roz Linton is averaging 10.7 rebounds a game.

Valley, Western State Conference Southern Division champion, is striving for its fourth consecutive berth in the final four but has yet to break through for the championship. Five teams in the field--Golden West, Merritt, San Mateo, Valley and Sequoias--competed in the final eight last season.

Moorpark is making its first final-eight appearance in Gary Abraham’s five seasons as coach. Moorpark (29-4), seeded third in the South and the WSC Northern Division co-champion, will open with a 2 p.m. game against Sequoias.

Sequoias (29-5), the second-seeded team from the North, finished second in the state last season and is second in the state in defense. Shaulonda Rittenhouse leads the team with a 15-point average.

Jolayne Thompson (6-1) and Lataria Andrews (5-8) are double-figure scorers. Sequoias is the Coast Valley Conference champion and the only team to beat top-ranked Golden West.

“I think their size might give us a little bit of a problem,” Abraham said.

Moorpark’s Kerrie Marshall was chosen the WSC Northern Division most valuable player, but point guard Amy Chandler, who led the WSC with 8.6 assists a game, was nearly as hot down the stretch, averaging 15.3 points in Northern Division play. Marshall averages 19.4 points and 11.2 rebounds.

In the 4 p.m. game, Santa Rosa (28-5) will play Bakersfield (22-10). Defending state champion Golden West (32-1) will play San Mateo (31-2) at 6 p.m.