Borum to Call It Quits Saturday : Magnolia Graduate to End Career in All-Star Game

The moment the girls’ Orange County All-Star basketball game ends Saturday night, and not a minute later, Dawne Borum of Magnolia High School will end her competitive sports career.

It’s strictly her choice, because Borum has enough talent and experience to continue playing basketball in college.

After all, she led the Sentinels in scoring and rebounding this past season, averaging 21.8 points and 13.9 rebounds a game, and she was named the Orange League’s most valuable player, ahead of rivals such as Susan Tousey and Aimee McDaniel of Brea-Olinda.

Borum also was a four-year varsity volleyball player and started on the 1985 Magnolia team that was beaten by Nordhoff in the 2-A championship game.

But Borum, who will play for the North team in Saturday night’s game, has had enough.

She’s going to Chapman College--a school known for its fine women’s basketball teams--but says it’s only to study criminal law. At Magnolia, she had a 3.6 grade-point average and was a National Honor Society member for three years.

Borum, who plays at both the forward and guard positions, said it was a difficult decision, particularly since Paul Kahn, the Chapman coach, pleaded with her to play for the Panthers.

But she talked it over with Michelle Carter, who was a two-time Times All-County player in 1984-85 and 1985-86 for Magnolia and who now plays at Brigham Young.

Carter told Borum she wouldn’t have played basketball at BYU if she had known how difficult it would be to mix athletics and academics.

“I’ve played for six years and gotten everything I was going to get out of it,” Borum said. “I just want to concentrate on my education.

“A lot of people are mad at me. ‘What do you mean, you’re not going to play anymore?’ I just don’t want to go through it.”

The long hours of practice coupled with school work proved too stressful. The fun started slipping away. The way Borum figured it, she needed a break from the competition.

“I’d come home from a game and be so tired and then I’d have to do my homework,” she said. “It’s too hard to juggle the three things--sports, studies and social life. It’s just the same routine every day.”

Still, Borum said she has fond memories of her high school career.

Chief among them is the Sentinels’ appearance in the 3-A playoffs this past season. Although Magnolia finished 13-10 and was third in the Orange League, the Sentinels played a superb game against Palos Verdes in the first round of the playoffs.

Although Magnolia lost to the eventual 3-A champion by four points, Borum said the team was at its best that night.

“Finally, we all played well together,” she said. “Even though we lost, we were still happy.”

And then there was the unexpected honor of being named the league’s MVP.

“I didn’t believe it when they told me,” Borum said. “I said, ‘Really?’ I knew I’d make all-league, but I didn’t think I’d be the MVP, especially since I came from a third-place team.”

Advancing to the 2-A championship game in volleyball in her sophomore season also ranks highly among her memories.

But the best may be yet to come: the all-star game Saturday at 5 p.m. in the Bren Center at UC Irvine.

“I’ve wanted to do this since I was a freshman,” she said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun to play with people of your ability. (At Magnolia) everyone looked for me. It was pretty much me or Rena Rossoll. If one of us didn’t excel, we would lose. And the other teams knew it. They would double or triple (team) you.”

Borum said that in the future, if the mood hits her, she can always find a pickup basketball game.

“I don’t think I’d go back to it (competitive basketball),” she said. “I can always go back and play for fun at Magnolia’s gym.”