Making Her Points : San Diego’s All-Time : Leading Prep Scorer Isn’t Walton or Halupa, It’s Sharon Turner

When El Camino High School’s girls basketball team played Ramona last Tuesday, Sharon Turner had 35 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals.

That is not out of the ordinary for the El Camino senior. The first time the Wildcats played Ramona this season, she scored 60.

Turner, a 5-foot 9-inch senior guard, is averaging 34 points and 12 assists per game. She already has 2,254 career points.

No one, male or female, has scored more in the history of San Diego County prep basketball. Not Bill Walton. Not Paul Halupa, the former record holder who had 1,982 points for Bonita Vista between 1968 and 1970.

No one.

El Camino’s Ray Johnson, who coaches the Wildcat boys and girls, tries not to gush about Turner’s virtues, but he realizes she is special.

“Sharon’s a good all-around player, no doubt about it,” he said. “She has very good basketball concepts and understands what’s going on on the floor. She sees the floor as well as some of the boys I’ve had--or better.”

There is nothing hesitant about Turner. She’s not in the league of USC All-American Cheryl Miller, but she has the same air of confidence.

Turner is decidedly offensive-minded, but not to the point of being selfish. She passes crisply--and frequently. And she also plays defense with a reasonable amount of zeal.

“She’s a girl Larry Bird,” said her father, R.C. “She plays like a guy.”

That’s because Turner played much of her basketball against guys--not girls. Turner plays against men on the courts of Buccaneer Beach, a favorite Oceanside haunt of Turner and her brothers, Tracy and Robert.

Marines, sailors and assorted local gym rats scoffed when Turner first showed up, but she’s a proven commodity now.

“They pick her before they pick me,” Robert Turner said.

Said Sharon: “Now I’m one of the regulars. I have no trouble getting on a team.”

College coaches have noticed her, too.

Said New Mexico Coach Doug Hoselton: “Sharon’s street smart. She doesn’t have any fear on the floor.”

Cal State Long Beach Coach Joan Bonvicini believes playing against men has helped Turner’s game.

“Sharon can give contact and take it,” she said. “A lot of girls are intimidated by her.”

Said Turner: “There’s no girl I’ve played against in high school that plays harder than my brothers, or the Marines that run over me and elbow me in the mouth. Once I get into college, where there’s more contact, I’ll be able to take the blows.”

Turner has been playing basketball most of her life, but it wasn’t her only game. She was the first girl in her area to play Pop Warner football.

R.C. suggested that Sharon focus her talents on basketball. Meanwhile, he focuses on her.

R.C. has seen nearly every game Turner has played at El Camino. Talk to R.C. and it doesn’t take long to find out Turner averaged 22.5 points a game as a freshman starter, 25.7 as a sophomore, when the Wildcats were 2-A champions, and 28.7 last year.

Father does take daughter’s career rather seriously.

One reason is pragmatic. Basketball ability can be a means of paying for a college education.

“I want her to have something I never had,” said R.C., a Texas native who has lived in the San Diego area for about 25 years. “That’s a good education.”

Turner won’t have trouble finding interested colleges. She’s being courted by nearly 50 schools. Nationally ranked women’s programs such as Old Dominion, Long Beach, Texas and San Diego State are interested.

“The first thing I noticed about Sharon is she’s a great shooter,” Bonvicini said. “She has good range and has been very well-coached. I’m impressed with her intensity level. She always plays real hard. She totally dominates high school kids.”

Said Nevada Las Vegas Coach Jim Bolla: “We think she’s a very good player. She’s a real tough individual. She’s a blue-collar player. She comes to play no matter what. She’s a great scorer.”

Turner is expected to be a shooting guard in college. Despite her gaudy scoring totals at El Camino, she plays point guard, which isn’t necessarily her choice. She’s happy that recruiters don’t see her as a playmaker.

“I’d prefer to play off guard,” Turner said. “In high school, I haven’t had the opportunity to play the position I’m built for. No one else on our team can handle the ball.

“In college, I’ll be able to concentrate on outside shooting, and I think I’ll do better as a shooter. I don’t think I’m that great of a ballhandler--not at all.”

At El Camino, Turner can throw in 40 points without breaking a sweat. It’ll be a different story in college, but Turner is ready for that challenge.

“I think I play better when I’m called upon to do more,” she said. “We have a situation here where we blow teams away by 50 or 60 points. I’m not called on to do anything extraordinary.

“Once I play against better players, my abilities will come out more.”

Few question Turner’s ability, but how quickly she will adjust to the college game is uncertain.

“I don’t think there’s a team in the country she couldn’t have an impact on,” Hoselton said. “She could step in and play for most people. Maybe not start, but she could contribute.”

Said Bonvicini: “The first adjustment she’ll have to make is playing against taller and quicker players. I think she’ll be able to handle it.”

While Turner is expected to be a college standout, she can’t be compared fairly to players such as Miller, San Diego State’s Tina Hutchinson or Long Beach’s Kirsten Cummings. They’re all at least 6 feet tall.

“I wish I were taller,” Turner said. “I’d rather play a bigger position, like forward. But I’m a good-sized guard.’

But Turner has not always had her wish. Because she was academically ineligible, she was not allowed to play for six weeks. That taught her a valuable lesson.

“I realized school was as important as basketball,” Turner said. “I couldn’t have one without the other. I decided to buckle down--I had time to do it all. I take my studies pretty seriously now.”

Said Johnson: “She still has a ways to go, but Sharon’s matured--she’s come a long way. She realizes that basketball isn’t the only thing.”

Turner believes girl basketball players still have to overcome stereotypes about athletics taking away from femininity.

“I do more than just get up in the morning and make myself look pretty,” Turner said. “You just gotta know me to appreciate me. There’s a lot more to me than meets the eye. People see me as an all-around jock. I’m just as sensitive as the girl who gets up at 4 a.m. to blow dry her hair.”

Turner would probably get up that early if it would assure the Wildcats of another 2-A championship. The title got away last year when Point Loma beat El Camino in the San Diego Section final and went on to win the state championship.

El Camino is 20-1 overall and 9-0 in the Avocado League. The Wildcats are rarely challenged. In Turner’s 60-point game against Ramona, El Camino won, 120-18. In its most recent game, El Camino beat San Pasqual, 109-17.

Turner is not the only talented player on the Wildcats, who have scored at least 100 points in five league games this year. Forward Sheri Williamson averages 17.4 points and 7.0 rebounds per game, center Rickie Evans averages 17.2 points and 13.0 rebounds and forward Pat Poore averages 12 and 10. Evans also is a formidable shot-blocker. She had 10 blocks against Ramona last week.

Point Loma has moved up to the 3-A division, so there does not appear to be much competition for the Wildcats, who are seeking their second county championship in three years.

“The difference between this year’s team and last year’s is that our kids are seniors,” Johnson said. “They’re more serious about what they want to do and where they want to go.

“We haven’t peaked yet. We’re not playing anywhere near as well as we can play.”

Once the season is over, Turner will turn her attention to selecting a college. For now, she is only sure now she wants to major in communications and pursue a broadcasting career.

Turner also is aware she is not likely to be able to turn her talents into a lucrative professional career. So she hopes basketball will help her achieve other goals.

“I want a nice, healthy life with a nice, healthy paycheck at the end of college,” Turner said. “I’m going to college for the education. I don’t expect to be playing basketball in five years.”

But there’s a good chance her scoring record will be around a lot longer.