GIRLS: From Brea-Olinda’s polished program to the frustrations at Magnolia, girls basketball is going through growing pains. : Some Have It While Others Still Trying

It is Tuesday night, girls basketball night, at Cypress High School. The Centurions are playing host to Loara in an Empire League game.

The crowd is sparse--there’s no need to open the bleachers on the home side of the gym. And on the court, the bigger Loara team is dominating the game offensively and defensively.

Cypress, for its part, is trying, but the final score indicates the disparity in talent and experience: Loara 65, Cypress 27.

Shanna Beer, who played about three-fourths of the game, led the Saxons with 28 points--one more than Cypress.

Meanwhile, barely two miles away at Western, the Pioneers are playing host to Brea-Olinda, Orange County’s top-ranked team.

A decent-sized crowd, including other girls and boys varsity athletes from both schools, is on hand. A young woman even sings the national anthem, much to the delight of the audience.

This game, however, also is a rout, 60-38, Brea-Olinda. But there is a marked difference between the losing teams in the two games.

Cypress still is trying to master the fundamentals of basketball. But Western, which uses complicated offenses and defenses, has the ability to at least challenge Brea-Olinda for one quarter.

For the 1984-85 girls basketball season, disparate scores tend to be the rule and not the exception. Orange County girls basketball teams have all but aligned themselves into the haves and have-nots, and when the two meet, lopsided scores usually result.

“It’s never been so distinct as this season,” said Foothill’s Sheila Adams, coach of one of the haves. “I think it might be a cyclical thing. We’re playing a lot of teams who’ve had seniors graduate and are playing underclassmen now.”

Particular reasons for the feast-or-famine syndrome vary from program to program, but in general, schools either treat girls basketball as a legitimate varsity sport, or they don’t.

El Toro Coach Paul Beidler outlined the chain of command he believes is necessary in developing a strong girls basketball program: “Overall, there must be a serious commitment to athletics from the administration on down. First, the administration must be supportive. Then the athletic director. Then the coach.”

Beidler speaks from experience--when he took over the El Toro program three years ago, his team took its beatings, but today it is usually a winner.

“I refuse to believe that one school really has that much more talent than another,” Beidler said.

This is where the administration can help. Hiring a coach, preferably one who is on campus and who would be able to keep track of current and future players, usually is the most important step. Beidler said it is a mistake to hire someone looking at the job as the first step to getting a boys position.

Said Barbara Ammann, girls athletic director at Fountain Valley: “I think we have a good program because of our coach (Carol Strausberg). We get good support from our administration, too, which makes my job easier. We really pride ourselves on excellence among boys and girls (sports).”

Sometimes, even with a dedicated coach, circumstances arise that hamper such building efforts. Steve Scoggin, boys and girls athletic director, and boys basketball coach at University, said there often is more than one program siphoning talent from the available pool.

“You have to look at which girls sports are dominant at the school,” Scoggin said. “At University, in the winter, we offer girls soccer and field hockey besides basketball, so that’s where some of the better athletes are going. Not every school has field hockey.”

The University girls basketball team is one of the programs that often loses by wide margins. But if it is any comfort to the Trojans, it is a phenomena not limited to just one school or area.

UCLA women’s basketball Coach Billie Moore, who recruits in Los Angeles County, Southern California, the West Coast, and even occasionally the midwest, has noticed that trend elsewhere.

“We see that (one-sided games) in the recruiting we do, but on the positive side, we’re now seeing more balance among the good teams we look at,” Moore said. “Look at Buena out of Ventura--very few of their players have gone on to play major college ball, but every year they seem to come up with five or six good high school basketball players.

“In Orange County, you’re seeing the same thing at schools like Fountain Valley, Brea, Foothill and Mater Dei. They might not have that one great superstar, but they are coming up with two or three, sometimes four, good players (per season).”

Moore concedes it still is an uphill battle for the have-nots to turn their programs around.

“The other disturbing trend we (college coaches) are seeing,” Moore said, “is more and more high school teams with fewer numbers of players. Today we see squads with only seven or eight players. Before, most teams carried 12 or as many as 15 (varsity) players.”

“I think the critical year for a lot of female athletes is the end of the sophomore year. That’s when they have to decide if they want to continue competing in athletics or be more involved in social activities (because of their ages).”

John Prickett of Magnolia said he faces a problem of keeping athletes. This season, the team appears to be suffering because of the dilemma.

“We had six or seven (returning) kids who could’ve started this year,” Prickett said, “but basketball wasn’t high on their list (of priorities). They had a different philosophy and most chose jobs over practice. So, we decided to start with the younger kids and take them through the program.

“With all of our youth, though, we’re actually a good junior varsity team, but not quite as experienced as most of the (varsity) teams we play.”

To lose by 30 points or more often is frustrating for Prickett and his team, which consists of five freshmen, four sophomores and a junior.

“Well, we’re getting experience--it may not be all that good--but it’s still experience. Sometimes it’s rough. But maybe next year it’ll be us (on the winning end),” Prickett said. Parity or Parody? The 24 games played on Tuesday, Jan. 15 were randomly selected to illustrate the disparity in Orange County girls basketball. Only three of the games were decided by 10 points or fewer. The margin of victory ranged from one point in Canyon’s 49-48 win over Tustin to 63 points in Foothill’s 87-24 rout of Villa Park. Sixteen of the games were decided by 15 points or more. The average margin of victory for the night was 23.2 points per game.

Winner Loser Score Margin Foothill Villa Park 87-24 63 La Quinta Los Amigos 82-32 50 Loara Cypress 65-27 38 La Habra Sunny Hills 61-25 36 El Dorado Pacifica 77-44 33 Woodbridge Corona del Mar 65-33 32 Mater Dei St. Joseph 68-38 30 Costa Mesa University 45-16 29 Fountain Valley Marina 63-36 27 Fullerton Buena Park 68-43 25 El Toro Dana Hills 68-44 24 Huntington Beach Westminster 64-40 24 Brea-Olinda Western 60-38 22 Ocean View Edison 74-52 22 Santa Ana Valley Santa Ana 38-22 16 Esperanza Kennedy 58-43 15 Newport Harbor Saddleback 38-24 14 Savanna Magnolia 48-35 13 Estancia Laguna Beach 33-19 12 Rancho Alamitos Santiago 38-26 12 Orange El Modena 53-42 11 Capistrano Valley Irvine 35-30 5 Katella Los Alamitos 29-25 4 Canyon Tustin 49-48 1