Girls’ Athlete of the Week : For Marina’s Sortino, Lots of Practice Makes Close to Perfect

Melisa Sortino, a junior at Marina High School, has had a personal coach to teach her basketball fundamentals and a weight trainer to work out with 3 to 4 times a week to build her strength.

Over the summer, she passed her days running on the beach, sprinting on the track and, of course, working on her shot.

She attended a basketball camp at Cal State Long Beach, played in a girls’ league and just finished playing in a 6-foot-and-under men’s league in Huntington Beach. Yes, a men’s league.

“I was the only girl in the whole league,” Sortino said. “I improved a lot there because you have to be quicker. With girls you can throw those lazy passes, but with guys you have to just whip it.”

Sortino has set her sights on transforming her 5-foot 7-inch, 120-pound frame into the body of a bona fide Division I basketball player.

And she is serious.

Sortino, The Times’ athlete of the week, was named the most valuable player at the Ceres tournament in Modesto this past weekend.

She helped lead the Vikings to the championship and a 5-0 start this season. In a 70-29 first-round victory over Livingston High School Thursday, Sortino scored 24 points. She added 26 in a 60-57 semifinal victory over Beyer.

Ceres, playing a box-and-one defense, limited Sortino to 5 points in the final, but she played a savvy floor game--setting up teammates Allison Krause and Lisa Orosco--and the Vikings prevailed, 61-39.

“I was happy because I felt like all the hard work I’ve been doing over the summer paid off,” she said. “I really wanted to win because of articles in the newspapers saying that we were not going to be that good because we lost all of our seniors. I just wanted our team to look good.”

She is one of only two players with varsity experience on a team with no player taller than 5-9.

Last year, Sortino was the first player off the bench for a team that advanced to the Southern Section 4-A quarterfinals before losing to Lynwood.

“She decided last year that she wanted to be a college basketball player and that is her goal and her No. 1 priority. She has really worked hard at it,” Marina Coach Mike Thornton said.

“She has developed into a pure shooting-type player, but the thing that has made her a much improved player from last year is she has improved her overall game. She is much better defensively, physically stronger and much better at handling the ball. As a sophomore she was a shooter. Now she is a player.”

TOP PERFORMER

Amy Jalewalia scored 32 points, had 9 rebunds and 6 steals to lead the La Quinta basketball team (4-1) to a 76-53 victory over Orange Saturday.

Melisa Sortino

Marina High School

Position: Guard

Height, Class: 5-7, Junior

Last Week: Sortino scored 24, 26 and 5 points in 3 games and was named most valuable player of the Ceres tournament in Modesto, leading Marina to the championship.