A Calculated Move : Hart Guard Dionne Weighs Merits of Settling in Oregon for Senior Season

Ken Dionne has decided to move the family to Brownsville, Ore., the site of the movie “Stand By Me.” But his daughter Anjanette, for the time being, is on standby.

Ken, a sergeant in the Los Angeles Police Department, will retire next month and move his family from Newhall to a newly completed five-bedroom home on a 578-acre ranch in Brownsville.

Dionne, a 5-foot-7 junior point guard who has helped lead the Hart High girls’ basketball team to consecutive Southern Section 5-A Division titles, has been given the option of staying for her senior season at Hart or moving to Brownsville, a city of 1,200 about 25 miles north of Eugene.

“A lot of people have offered their homes if she wants to stay,” Ken said. “There is a big booster program at the school and that would not be a problem. The arrangements can be made. She’s part of the family, but when I pack up the truck and start the engine, it’s up to her whether she wants to jump on or not.”

Dionne averaged 20.3 points and five assists as a sophomore when she was named The Times’ Valley player of the year and a first-team All-Southern Section Division I selection.

She also was the Foothill League co-player of the year with teammate Sara Wilson, who now is playing at Oregon.

This season Dionne, a preseason honorable-mention All-American selection by Street & Smith’s magazine, is averaging 20.5 points, 5.7 steals and 5.9 assists--7.1 assists in league play. She has scored more than 20 points in 15 of 26 games.

Hart, which finished 25-5 last season, is 22-5 this season and won a share of its third consecutive Foothill League title. The Indians have won 28 of 30 league games, including a streak of 23 wins in Dionne’s three seasons. Hart, which will play at Cerritos (17-9) tonight in the second round of the Division I-A playoffs, has lost only once at home during that span, a setback against San Diego Mt. Carmel in the first round of the state Division I playoffs last season.

If Dionne, the second of five children, chooses to move, she would attend Central Linn High in Halsey, about 10 miles from Brownsville.

Central Linn, which has an enrollment of 250, finished fifth in the Class AA Division last season. This season the team is 16-3 with one regular-season game remaining, and seven players will return next season.

“We take her ballhandling kills for granted,” Hart Coach Dave Munroe said. “We rely on her to run the floor. She’s so unselfish and can hit people with pinpoint passes that get the crowd oohing and aahing. She plays every game like it’s the most important game. We’re definitely going to miss her (if she leaves).”

Carol Gruhlke, a senior forward at Hart, expressed similar sentiments.

“A lot of people ask about her moving, but I try to forget about it and wish it wouldn’t happen,” Gruhlke said. “I wish she would stay, but that’s the way it is. I hope that the season doesn’t end.”

But when the season is completed, Dionne will make her decision. She is leaning toward moving after practicing with Central Linn during the Thanksgiving break.

“I feel really good about the team and I’m looking forward to playing with them,” Dionne said. “I think we’ll have a good chance to win a state championship. I’ll miss people here. There’s a lot of people leaving the (Hart) program this year. There are going to be some top players but not as much experience as there is ability.”

Should Dionne play her senior season at Hart, the Indians would have eight returning players and would lose only two starters, Gruhlke and Nicole White.

The Hart junior varsity was 16-5 and the freshman team was 20-0 this season, the first basketball team in school history to go undefeated.

Dionne said she got along well with her prospective teammates at Central Linn.

“I had heard that sooner or later that a good player was going to be moving,” said Monica Northern, a junior on the Central Linn basketball team. “She met the team and fit in just perfectly.”

Central Linn Coach Cheryl Duman was aware of the possibility of Dionne attending the school, but the circumstances involving the move were cloudy.

“Everything was up in the air until she came to practice,” Duman said. “She worked real hard when she was up here. She is a good ballplayer and we’d love to have her play.”

According to Don Peterson, the executive director of the Oregon School Athletics Assn., which governs high school athletics in the state, Dionne should not have been allowed to take part in the Central Linn practice.

“Practice is only for eligible students on the school’s team,” Peterson said. “It is not technically permitted for outside people to participate.”

Peterson said that it would be difficult to enforce the rule because of the interstate circumstances involved and would not comment on any possible consequences.

Dionne originally was to have moved to Oregon this season. Her father had planned to retire in October to coincide with his 20th anniversary with the LAPD.

However, the Dionnes’ new home, which Ken designed and has been building himself for the past three years, was not completed. He has made nearly 30 trips to Oregon during that period.

“I wanted to let her finish her junior season here because this was the most important year in terms of college recruiting and she would not get that kind of exposure in Oregon,” he said.

Munroe learned late last season that Dionne would be back for her junior year.

“It was a reprieve,” Munroe said. “It was like an early Christmas. She is definitely our leader because she makes everybody else better. The other girls have improved and I think that everybody is happy that she is still here.”

But for how much longer is unknown.

“The feeling is that this is my senior year,” Dionne said. “I know that Munroe would do anything to get me to stay, but I have to decide what’s best for me.”

Dionne has received letters of interest from more than 40 schools, including USC, Cal, Arizona, Arizona State and Iowa, but she is strongly considering Pepperdine and Oregon.

“I’m pretty interested, but my mind changes when I find out things about each school,” said Dionne, who began attracting attention from college recruiters as a ninth-grader.

“A big part is a school that plays an up-tempo game. I’m interested in playing in a good conference and where everybody gets along with the team.”

That was not the case during the beginning of Dionne’s freshman season at Hart.

“I remember walking into the gym and they were so tall,” Dionne said. “There were seven seniors on the team and it really wasn’t easy for me. They put me through some hard times. Looks were given and things were said. They were kind of cold toward me at first. They wanted to make sure that they knew I knew who was boss. Eventually, everything worked out well.”

Dionne was not a starter but averaged 7.8 points a game as Hart’s sixth player. She was the lone freshman on a team that finished 26-3 and included Nikki Brodowy, Nicole Anthony and Wilson. All four were selected to The Times’ 1988-89 All-Valley team.

“She was the best all-around guard on the team because she could flat-out handle the ball,” Munroe said. “There is no doubt in my mind that she can play boys’ basketball. The guys on campus respect her tremendously.”

And the boys against whom Dionne had played in the Newhall Parks and Recreation leagues since the fourth grade carried that same respect. Dionne started on the girls’ team, but that situation did not last long.

“I thought it would be fun, but there was no challenge,” Dionne said. “In one game, I had about 20 points in the first five minutes. I kept stealing the ball and the other teams were getting mad and didn’t like me playing in the league.”

Dionne switched to the boys’ league. She played against Mike Riner, now a guard on the Hart varsity. In the eighth grade, she was selected to an all-star team that included Ryan Connors, who played quarterback for Hart in the fall.

But since coming to Hart, Dionne has been lending her hand exclusively to the girls’ team. She had 20 points, seven assists and eight steals in the Indians’ 85-28 victory over visiting Hueneme in the first round Saturday night.

Tonight, Hart will meet the San Gabriel Valley League’s third-place finisher in Cerritos.

“What happened in league really doesn’t matter,” Dionne said. “We’re going to be . . . like everybody else in the playoffs. I think we’re capable of beating anybody if we play real well. Our first game was at home and we always get a lot of support there.”

Dionne also is bound to receive a warm welcome wherever she decides to play next season.