USD Basketball Player Gave Humanity an Assist : Award: Paula Mascari’s game and grades were first-rate, but it was her compassionate side that led to her being named as the West Coast Conference’s female scholar athlete of the year.

She was intense and emotional, the spiritual leader of her basketball team. But more than the points she scored and the assists she gave out, Paula Mascari scored points with people by giving of herself.

Her contribution to charity and to the University of San Diego made Mascari appreciated by more than just basketball fans.

Yes, she set a USD record for career assists. And she made the dean’s list. And her grade-point average was 3.7. But it was the other side of Paula Mascari that led to her being recognized recently as the West Coast Conference’s female scholar athlete of the year.

The compassionate side.

Mascari was the captain of the Toreras’ basketball team for the past two years, and she showed that same leadership in attacking her community’s needs.

She worked with Mercy Hospital’s chaplaincy unit and encouraged cancer patients, diabetics and new mothers. She helped build houses for the homeless in Tijuana. She went into the community as part of a senior outreach and mowed the lawns of the elderly, scrubbed windows and cleaned up around the house. She served in a downtown soup kitchen.

“I wanted to do something new each year because I wanted to learn something new each year,” Mascari said. “I could have stayed with one ministry the entire time, but I think that’s what college is for, to experiment, so I tried to dip my finger into every opportunity.”

The word ministry will come up often with Mascari, who fit right in with the ideology of a Catholic university.

“She’s very religious, but, beyond that, she has really high moral values,” said Kathy Marpe, USD women’s basketball coach. “She’s going to go out of her way to help people.”

And she learned how to help herself. Mascari, Monte Vista High School’s class valedictorian in 1986, said she’s not smart enough to crack a book open the night before a test and get an A. And she’s not so physically talented that she can walk on to a basketball court and perform magic. She is short at 5-feet-4 and neither particularly fast nor a very good jumper.

“Those three things on paper said that I would never make it to Division I basketball,” Mascari said. “But with my effort and my drive and my determination, I beat the odds through my hustle, aggressiveness and smarts. A lot of things other girls did, I was able to do through smart play.”

She got around her height disadvantage by being a hotshot from the three-point line. During her senior season, she was the 14th best shooter in the nation from that distance, hitting 43.8% of her shots (42 of 96). Through four years, she set the school career assist record, 245, and was USD’s seventh all-time leading scorer with 802 points.

Mascari, who graduated magna cum laude with a major in communications, is serving an internship in the Chargers’ public relations department. She is interested in pursuing a career in print or broadcast journalism.

“I could see her doing color (commentary) on basketball games,” Marpe said. “I think she’ll make some inroads for women broadcasters. I think that’s where she wants to go, and I’ve known Paula long enough to know that’s probably what she’ll wind up doing.”

Between classes and basketball, Mascari somehow found the time for her various ministries by being well-organized and by prioritizing the different areas of her life.

“I try to set aside time for the things that are most important to me,” Mascari said. “That goes from God to family to friends to sports, right down the line. I really value my faith, and that’s really the most important thing in my life. Any time I can give to other people the talent that God gave to me, I feel that I am using my gifts to their fullest. It seems the more you give, the more you get.”

Marpe noticed.

“I think that’s part of her family upbringing,” she said. “She lives her life where what you give out is what you get back. I don’t see her ever wasting time. And going along with being an overachiever, she sometimes tries to do too much.”

And expect too much.

Her freshman season, Mascari entered a game early at Santa Clara because the starter was in foul trouble. She played brilliantly enough to become the starter after that game, and the Toreras eventually took the lead and led by one with five seconds left. While USD tried to run out the clock, Mascari’s pass was stolen and taken the length of the court for a basket. Santa Clara won by a point.

“In the team meeting after the game, she was just devastated,” Marpe said. “All she can remember is that she made the one bad pass, her only one all night. It doesn’t matter that she played exceptionally well the rest of the night. That’s the perfectionist in her. That’s how she played the game all of her life.”

Says Mascari: “It’s my strength . . . and my weakness.

“It’s my strength because I strive to do my best at everything I do, even if it seems like there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. That puts me a step above some people because so many of them don’t try. It’s my weakness because oftentimes I get down on myself because I don’t achieve things that are often very difficult to achieve.”

Marpe said Mascari’s high expectations led to the most emotional meeting ever between player and coach.

“She came to me once this season, crying, and said she felt she was failing and not doing what a captain should, and I told her that I thought the world of her,” Marpe said. “It was something she carried with her a couple of years. Sometimes, perfectionists think they’re terrible when they’re really very good. She felt she had failed her entire career at USD. It just dumbfounded me that this player didn’t have an ego.

“She was one of the best (captains) we’ve ever had.”

Mascari certainly took being a captain to heart, even at the risk of losing her starting point guard position. Marpe recalled how Mascari was so unselfish that she took freshman Angie Straub under her wing this season.

“Angie had more physical talent and could have beaten Paula out,” Marpe explained. “She had twice as much quickness and really good ball-handling skills. Paula could see that Angie was going to make us a better team whether she lost her position or not, so she showed her the ropes. There was a point in the season when Angie was getting more playing time, but you couldn’t see any jealousy in Paula. She just worked her butt off and got her spot back.”

That’s why Mascari was named the first junior captain in 1988--along with teammate Candida Echeverria--in Marpe’s 10 years at USD.

“Paula was a leader off the floor,” Marpe said. “She epitomized what I wanted the team to do: work hard every day, not have the attitude of ‘How many points did I get?’ but ‘Did the team win?’ and encourage and help the younger players.”

Marpe got what she wanted. The community got what it needed. Mascari got the award.