SOUTHERN SECTION GIRLS’ BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS : DIVISION III ROUNDUP : Newport Harbor Gets a Little Help From an Expert

The Newport Harbor girls’ basketball team had plenty of reasons to be distracted during Wednesday’s Division III-AA qualifying game against Los Amigos. After all, there was a coaching legend on the bench.

But the Sailors, aided by former Oregon State coach Ralph Miller, adjusted and beat the Lobos, 67-43, at Fountain Valley.

Miller, the seventh winningest Division I college basketball coach, returned to the bench for the first time since 1989, to help his daughter, Newport Harbor Coach Shannon Jakosky, who is expecting her first child next week.

“This is the first time I’ve coached a girls’ game. There really isn’t that much difference,” said Miller, who last coached a high school game in 1951. “I never enjoyed victories more than when I was a high school coach.”

The Sailors (12-11) didn’t let the distractions--including two television crews and a dozen writers--affect their play. Michaela Ross, Maureen McClaren and Jenni Hall combined for 62 of the team’s 67 points.

Ross, a sophomore, had 32 points and nine rebounds. Her 14 first-quarter points helped give the Sailors a 22-10 lead after one quarter. McClaren and Hall each scored 15 points, and McClaren added seven rebounds and two blocked shots.

“I was worried about first-game jitters and the media attention,” Jakosky said, “but camera crews came to our practice yesterday and the team really adjusted well. It’s a maturing process and will get easier with time.”

“We weren’t distracted (with Miller on the bench),” said Hall. “I think having him here makes us play better. It’s different hearing things from him but he had some helpful things to say to us tonight.”

Miller, 71, said he never expected to help his daughter coach.

“I probably taught her a lot,” he said. “She always came to my practices at Oregon State and I knew someday she would become a coach.”

Clayton Olivier, the Los Amigos boys’ coach who played at USC from 1981-85, said he was more surprised than anyone to see Miller sitting on the bench.

“I can remember when he was coaching in the big time,” Olivier said. “I’ll bet some of the kids here don’t even know who he is. The last time I saw him, he was coaching A.C. Green.”

A member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, Miller retired following the 1988-89 season, his 19th at Oregon State. He now lives in Black Butte Ranch, 30 miles north of Bend in Central Oregon.

Jakosky said she was pleased with her team’s performance.

“I said all season that if we get three starters into double figures, we’ll win the game,” she said. “That’s what happened tonight.”

The playoff victory was the first in the sport in Newport Harbor history.

Los Amigos (11-12) never got into the game as the Newport Harbor defense limited the Lobos to just 20 points in the first half. May Ly led the Lobos with 17 points, but Carrie Elsaesser, Los Amigos’ 6-foot-3 center, was limited to just four points. Elsaesser did manage to block five shots and grab eight rebounds.

The Sailors will play Alemany, an 84-29 winner Wednesday over Rolling Hills, on Saturday night, and Miller will again be on the bench.

“First-time babies are always late,” he said, “and I’m hoping this will happen here. But if something happens, I’ll be here.”