Morningside High Quickly Adapts to Life Without Lisa : Basketball: With plenty of depth and a balanced attack, the Monarchs are off to a fast start.
Ron Randle has been shouting himself hoarse the past few weeks as the Morningside High girlsâ basketball coach.
âIâll have no voice come Friday,â he said. âI get better quickly, though.â
As well he should. After three weeks of yelling instruction, admonishment and encouragement, Randle has guided the Lady Monarchs to a 5-0 record going into last nightâs game against Hanford.
Morningside is currently playing in the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions--traditionally one of the premier girlsâ tournaments in the nation--which concludes with the championship game Saturday at 8 p.m. at Santa Barbara High.
Expect Randleâs voice to be raw at the end of it, although the Monarchs could find themselves with their second tournament championship of the season.
The host Monarchs swept to the title of the Morningside tournament last week, defeating Lynwood in the championship game, 69-61. Morningside did it with a balanced attack that featured key contributions from several players.
Clearly, Randle is blessed with a gifted group of athletes.
Still, much of the speculation surrounding Morningside this season has focused mostly on what the Monarchs donât have.
First of all, they no longer have schoolgirl legend Lisa Leslie, the 6-foot-5 prodigy who scored 104 points in a half, set national scoring records and dunked several times in her high school career.
Last season, Leslie became the most sought-after prep female basketball player in the nation since Cheryl Miller. She is now at USC, Millerâs alma mater.
Which is also where longtime Morningside coach Frank Scott is now, as well, after 10 seasons and as many league championships, including three consecutive CIF titles and a pair of Division I state titles in the past two years.
Scott is an assistant to USC Coach Marianne Stanley. Randle, a veteran of seven seasons of co-coaching the Monarchsâ boys team along with Carl Franklin, took over for Scott.
The Morningside boys were either Ocean or Pioneer League champions in six of Randleâs seven seasons.
But Randle is still adjusting to his new duties.
âItâs a different type of challenge,â Randle said. âBasketball is basketball. But Iâm still trying to find out how Frank Scott did it.â
Hence the hoarseness.
There have also been adjustments for the players.
âIâm a little more vocal as far as bench decorum than Coach Scott was,â Randle said. âItâs important not to be overbearing, but still get my points across. But itâs tough for the players to make the transition from a quiet person to a screamer.â
One thing the Monarchs donât have to learn is up-tempo basketball. Randleâs Morningside team is playing intense pressure defense and fast-breaking offense just like Scottâs teams did.
âQuickness, agility and fundamentals,â Randle said in listing qualities that seem inherent in Morningside players.
The Monarchs are winning with a deep roster and a rotation that would be the envy of most coaches.
In the pivot for Morningside is 6-4 center Janet Davis, a talented junior who spent her first two seasons in Leslieâs shadow. She is averaging 18 points, 11 rebounds and six blocked shots per game.
Randle has several choices alongside Davis in the front court, including 5-10 senior forward Akiba Flanagan, who is averaging 8.5 points, nine rebounds and four steals, 5-9 swing forward Tyesha Whiting, defensive specialist Jakeena Bacon, and 6-2 sophomore Tina Thompson, who is averaging 12 points in a reserve role.
The backcourt is just as deep, with guards Sherell Young, a 5-5 junior who is averaging seven points and 11 assists, and senior Princess Murray, who is averaging 10 points, leading the way. The multi-talented Murray has already signed a letter of intent with Loyola Marymount. Randle also has a gifted 5-10 freshman guard in Temika Kirby.
The Monarchsâ deep bench includes guards Melinda Cook and Kalesha Prewitt and forwards Terri McKinney and Angela Collins.
âIâve got 12 players and I play them all,â Randle said.
Distributing adequate playing time among the Monarchs has been one of Randleâs most difficult tasks.
The chore of trying to replace Leslie has been an easier one, however.
âYou canât replace a person like Lisa Leslie,â Randle said. âNo one player can step into the shoes of Lisa Leslie. Instead, weâve tried to absorb parts of Lisaâs game into different players.â
Hence Davisâ blocks, Flanaganâs rebounds and Thompsonâs scoring off the bench.
âIt has created an atmosphere where every young lady is anxious to get into the ballgame and do her part,â Randle said.
So Morningside keeps rolling along.
And Randle, who was a reserve guard on the 1973 Morningside team that went 30-1 in Coach Jim Harrickâs final season at the school, keeps shouting.
But he remembers several philosophies that Harrick, now the UCLA coach, left behind.
âThere is no âIâ in âwe,â â Randle said. âWeâre trying to develop the âwe.â â
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