Ealy Does It : CSUN Guard Finding Her Bearings on Court After Off-Court Injury

There is something ennobling about athletic injuries that occur in the thick of battle. That’s why there was nothing redeeming about the injury to Cal State Northridge basketball player Bridgette Ealy. It happened on a running track during conditioning drills, a pulled hamstring serious enough to force the Matador guard to miss the entire 1989-90 season.

Before she was injured, Ealy had been looking forward to following up her solid sophomore season, which included All-California Collegiate Athletic Assn. honors. To her, the injury was senseless and infuriating.

“It wasn’t fun just sitting around doing nothing all season,” she said.

Ealy’s injury did not heal for about seven months. She still attended practice and road games but only to watch. “It was frustrating,” she said. “Redshirting would have been OK if I at least could have practiced with the team.”

When Ealy reported for practice this season, she felt somewhat alien. There was a new coach, Janet Martin, and, with CSUN moving to Division I, a new level of competition. But her adjustment did not end there. Despite her familiarity with her teammates, on the court she was a stranger to many of them.

“There’s a lot of new people for me to get used to and for them to know me,” Ealy said.

Ealy, who describes her style of play as “driving, slashing and running,” plays three positions for the Matadors (5-11), averaging 9.9 points a game in the young season--2.7 points below her scoring average as a sophomore--and pulling down an average of six rebounds. That ranks her second on the team in both categories. She leads the team with 59 assists and is second in steals with 35. But she has not been satisfied with her performance.

“So far, I’m not playing up to what my expectations are,” she said. “I think I can be better.”

Ealy might be critical of herself, but Martin isn’t. “She’s a great player for us,” the coach said. “She instills confidence in other players, she’s very good at cutting and slashing, and she’s a great rebounder.”

Ealy did not play organized basketball until she attended Chaffey High in Ontario. Her senior year, she averaged 15 points and 12 rebounds and was named league MVP, but colleges stayed away until her coach, Joe Reynaga, sent out action videotapes. CSUN was the first to respond.

“The first thing that caught my eye was she anticipated well,” then-CSUN Coach Leslie Milke told The Times in 1988. “Even back then she played smart and you could tell she had a lot of court sense.”

Martin thinks Ealy is good enough to play overseas in women’s pro leagues. In Europe, a player can make as much as $40,000 a year, tax free, said Martin, who once played for teams in Switzerland and Belgium.

Martin highly recommended the experience to Ealy and a few other CSUN players. But for Ealy, the temptation to spend a few years playing pro basketball in glamorous European cities was not strong enough to alter the path she has chosen for herself.

Majoring in history and black studies, Ealy wants to teach history in high school for a few years and then get a law degree. “Bridgette is very goal-oriented,” Martin said. “Very few things get in her way.”

Ealy considers basketball “a way to pay for school” and not her reason for being in college.

“She’s very dedicated to her schoolwork,” Martin said.

But the Matadors run a close second. “As long as we win,” Ealy said, “I’m happy.”