The Preps : Girls’ Athlete of the Week : Williams Comes Through in Title Game for Brea

Mark Trakh, Brea-Olinda High School girls’ basketball coach, says great athletes “don’t just fall in your lap. You have to go out and shake the bushes.”

That is how he landed a reluctant Jinelle Williams, the Ladycats’ sophomore center.

Williams, The Times’ athlete of the week, scored a team-high 23 points in a 70-46 victory over San Francisco Mercy in the State Division III girls’ championship game Saturday.

But two years ago, she was not even considering playing basketball at Brea. Trakh had to talk her into it.

Williams, who moved to Brea from Florida before the eighth grade, had never played any sports. But at the urging of Leslie Burner, a Brea Junior High School physical education teacher, she went out for volleyball.

That led Williams to try out for the Pole Cats, a Brea-area basketball team for eighth-grade students. She was the last girl picked and spent most of the time on the bench.

But Trakh saw her athletic ability. He told her over the summer that she was going to go out for the Ladycats. Williams had other ideas.

“Every time she would see me, she would start walking the other way,” Trakh said.

Said Williams: “I had never played, and I did not know what I was doing. And I just didn’t want to look stupid.”

Eventually Trakh wore her down. She went out for basketball and made the junior varsity.

This season, Williams, 5-feet-8, became the Ladycats’ starting center.

In the state title game, she played against 6-1, 185-pound Angel Mahan.

“I’m certain during the jump ball, (Mahan) is looking at Jinelle and laughing, saying, ‘Oh my God, this is their center?’ ” Trakh said.

But Williams and Brea got the last laugh.

Williams averaged 14.9 points this season, a long way from when she averaged only three points a game in a varsity summer league.

She is able to compete against larger centers because she has great leaping ability, speed and quickness, Trakh said.

“At first when I stated on varsity, (opposing centers) were intimidating me a little, but then I got used to playing against them and it was whatever you have to do to win,” Williams said.

TOP PERFORMERS

University first baseman Liz Dale went three for three with two home runs and two RBIs Thursday in an 11-1 Sea View league victory over Corona del Mar. In the first track meet of her career, senior Olive Langi of Saddleback set a school record for the shotput (38 feet 3 inches) Thursday. Penina Masanai had set the record of 35-8 in 1981. Langi set the record in Saddleback’s 82-45 loss to El Modena.

Jinelle Williams

Brea-Olinda High School

Position: Center

Height, Weight, Class: 5-8, 130, Sophomore

Last Week: Williams scored a team-high 23 points to lead Brea-Olinda to the State Division III girls’ title with a 70-46 victory over San Francisco Mercy Saturday.

Season: Williams averaged 14.9 points this season.