Time for a Knapp : Louisville Center Tires as Grueling, Successful Summer Winds Down

A summer spent running up and down basketball courts, taking elbows to various parts of the body, has finally caught up with Andrea Knapp.

A virus that has nagged Knapp for a week has left her with sore muscles, an upset stomach and a general feeling of fatigue.

“Just one more game, one more day,” Knapp said. “Then I can go die on the couch.”

That game comes tonight at 8:30 when Knapp leads her Louisville High team against Morningside in the final of the Bell-Jeff girls basketball tournament at Bell-Jeff High.

During the summer, Louisville has played nearly 45 games. When Knapp, the Royals’ 6-2 senior center, hasn’t been playing for Louisville, she’s displayed her talents at camps around the country.

Knapp, twice an All-Southern Section pick, has participated in the Blue-Star East Camp at Rutgers and the Blue-Star West Camp at Pepperdine. The camps draw some of the top female high school basketball players in the nation.

Being ranked among the elite in the country is nothing new to Knapp. Before her junior season, she was named to several preseason All-American teams. Last season, Women’s Basketball News magazine ranked her a fifth-team All-American. This season, Knapp is a second-team selection.

Knapp rates as one of the Valley’s best players on a highly regarded Louisville team. She knows big things are expected from both but isn’t about to let the pressure get to her.

“You just can’t think about it when you’re playing,” Knapp said. “You have to have fun. Whatever comes is God-given. I just have to go out and play my best.”

Few were better last season than Knapp, who averaged 22.6 points, 12.2 rebounds and 3 blocks a game for the Royals. Knapp’s accomplishments earned her Times’ All-Valley honors for the second straight year. Louisville was 25-5 for the season, advancing to the Southern Section 3-A semifinals.

Brea-Olinda won the 3-A championship last season and probably will be favored to repeat. But as Louisville Coach Brian O’Hara said, the Royals are “definitely a candidate.”

“We can play with Brea,” O’Hara said. “Lynwood won the L.A. Games this year and they beat Brea. We’ve played Lynwood twice and beaten them twice.”

The first win came last season when Knapp scored 39 points in a 64-58 victory in the final of the Thousand Oaks tournament. The second occurred Monday night in the Bell-Jeff semifinals. Knapp scored 21 points to lead Louisville to a 57-54 win over the team that won the Southern Section 4-A championship last season.

Knapp’s play Monday night was an example of her versatility, according to O’Hara.

“Lynwood was out to get her because she had scored 39 against them,” he said. “They were hammering her in the first half, so she was making some great passes.”

At the half, Knapp had only five points. O’Hara told her at halftime that she had to score more. The result was a 16-point second-half outburst.

“She can do it all,” O’Hara said. “Her dribbling has improved so much. People don’t think she can dribble, but that’s such a joke. She can go coast to coast.”

Knapp literally went coast to coast on her trip to Rutgers in New Jersey this summer, an experience that changed her perspective on college.

“At first, I thought I was going to stay close to home,” she said. “But now, since I’ve gone back there . . . maybe I’m maturing more, growing up. I kind of want to go away.”

But Knapp still hasn’t made any decision about her future. “I could go 3,000 miles away or 100 miles. It depends on where I feel the best. A good education is what is most important,” she said.

Knapp said she expects to sign before her senior season, taking advantage of the early-signing period in the fall.

“First off, it takes the pressure off that may sneak up on you,” she said. “My senior year at school is going to be pretty difficult.”

Knapp, 16, who has a 3.4 grade-point average, could go anywhere in the nation, according to O’Hara.

“She’s not just a down-low player,” O’Hara said. “We can put her down low early and if she gets hammered and no fouls are called, we can move her outside. There, she can pass, drive or shoot. Some people you can leave open 10 to 15 feet and they won’t shoot. Andrea can hit from 20 feet.”

Knapp often draws two and sometimes three defenders. “It’s kind of tough,” she said. “Sometimes it’s aggravating, especially if they’re shorter and you’re trying to dribble.”

But overplaying Knapp leaves somebody open, and there is more to the Louisville team than Knapp.

Lynn Flanagan, a 5-8 senior, is also a second-team preseason All-American by Women’s Basketball News. “And Tina Kohler would be an All-American if she just concentrated on basketball,” O’Hara said.

Flanagan and Kohler started for last year’s team, which lost to Foothill, 63-53, in the Southern Section semifinals. In Knapp’s sophomore season, Louisville was 21-5 and reached the second round of the playoffs. Knapp averaged 18.7 points and 10.5 rebounds a game that season.

She was a part-time player as a freshman, averaging about eight points a game for the 20-6 Royals, who were eliminated in the second round.

Knapp’s numbers may suffer this season because of Louisville’s overall strength. “We may have a lot of games under control early,” O’Hara said. “She figures to play the whole first half, get about 14 to 15 points. After that, you never know.

“If she signs early, then there’s no need to run her ragged.”

That sounds like good news to a tired Knapp.