Frederick Out for Good Time, Great Game : Girls’ basketball: Cheered by her brother’s return from the Gulf War, Savanna High School guard vows to have fun in county all-star game.

Carrie Frederick knows how to put a basketball game in perspective.

Frederick, a 5-foot-5 senior guard from Savanna High School, will play for the North team in the 14th Orange County girls’ basketball all-star game Saturday afternoon at Saddleback College.

She considers it an honor to be on the same court with so many talented players, but thinks of the game as more of an opportunity for a good time than a pressure situation in which nothing less than a victory will do.

“I’m just looking to have fun,” Frederick said. “I’m going to take it seriously, but not too seriously. I’m taking it for what it’s worth.”

After the past three months, Frederick is entitled to a little levity.

From mid-January until about a week ago, Frederick played basketball and softball for the Rebels with the uncertainty of whether she would ever see her 24-year-old brother, Jason, again. As an Army reservist, he was deployed to Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War as a transportation specialist. But all of that changed Sunday.

While most of the all-stars and their parents attended the game banquet that night, Frederick and her family--about 50 strong--were at Ontario International Airport to welcome Jason home. She had planned to be at the dinner, Frederick said, but then Jason called his wife with word of his return.

“My family is real important to me,” said Frederick, who also has a 21-year-old brother named Jarrett. “We thought he (Jason) would come home in May or June. He was barely going to make it back for my graduation. . . . He was glad he could make it for my (all-star) game.”

Frederick, the Rebels’ all-time leading scorer with 1,134 points and the Orange League’s most valuable player last season after averaging 18 points and six assists, remembers having mixed feelings the night she found out Jason was headed for the Middle East.

“I was kind of mad because he told us before our (first) game with Valencia and Valencia was our main competition for second place (in the league),” Frederick said. “That game I didn’t play well at all. I couldn’t concentrate.”

Frederick scored only four points in a 45-39 loss to the Tigers in that game, but she said things became easier to handle as the days went by even though the team eventually finished two games behind Valencia in the league. By the time she switched over to the Rebel softball team as their shortstop and leadoff hitter, Frederick was feeling more comfortable about her brother’s involvement in the war.

“When we started hearing from him it was reassuring,” Frederick said. “We got a couple of letters and we talked on the phone a couple of times. It was good hearing his voice.”

Frederick said having her brother at the game Saturday will be an added incentive to play her best.

“I give 110% all the time because I love the game,” said Frederick, who plans to play softball--and maybe basketball--at Cypress College next year. “I worked hard to get where I am. It didn’t come naturally.”

If the North team wins Saturday, Frederick will have a couple of reasons to celebrate.

“We are throwing a big party for him (Jason) after the game,” she said.

All-Star Notes

The North squad will have only 13 players available instead of the 15 chosen because La Habra forward Ana Kristich has a volleyball commitment and Mater Dei guard Melissa McDonald is participating in a track meet Saturday. . . . North Coach Denise Selbe and husband John, her assistant at Cypress High and with the all-star team, had their first child, Joshua Tyler, on April 2. . . . South Coach Lisa McNamee will be aided by her two assistants at Estancia, Vickie Simpson and Lisa Stevens. It will be the last high school game for Simpson, who is leaving coaching after helping McNamee at Estancia the past six years. . . . The North team will hold its last practice tonight from 6 to 8 at Cypress College. The South team concluded its practices Thursday.

ORANGE COUNTY PREP BASKETBALL CLASSIC

Saturday’s games: Girls, 1:30 p.m.; Boys, 4 p.m.

Site: Saddleback Community College.

Tickets: $8 adults, $5 students and children.

Benefiting: Boys and Girls Clubs of Orange County, Orange County YMCAs, Los Angeles Times Charity Fund, CHOC Hospital and others.

Girls’ rosters: North--Leslie Ferguson (La Habra, F, 6-0); Carrie Frederick (Savanna, G, 5-5); Wendy Fullmer (Esperanza, C, 5-11); Yolanda Hearvey (Magnolia, F, 6-0); Joanna Humphrey (Cypress, C, 6-4); Ana Kristich (La Habra, F, 6-1); Melinda Lira (Rancho Alamitos, G, 5-2); Melissa McDonald (Mater Dei, G, 5-8); Frances Oda (Cypress, G, 5-6); Joyce Pea (Magnolia, F, 5-10); Valerie Ruiz (Kennedy, G, 5-1); Lisa Ruppe (Esperanza, F, 5-10); Tracy Titus (Loara, C, 6-2); Dawn Vance (Katella, C, 6-0); Jinelle Williams (Brea-Olinda, C, 5-9). Coach: Denise Selbe (Cypress). South--Gillian Bean (Marina, F, 5-9); Heather Brennan (La Quinta, F, 5-11); Shelley Calhoun (Trabuco Hills, F, 5-8); Robin Cordrey (Estancia, C, 5-10); Jana Davis (Huntington Beach, G, 5-7); Melody Earle (Estancia, G, 5-8); Carrie Elsaesser (Los Amigos, C, 6-3); Heather Flaherty (Corona del Mar, C, 6-0); Deanna Harry (Woodbridge, C, 6-2); Colleen Hatch (Marina, C, 5-10); Tracy Heiser (El Toro, G, 5-6); Patrice Lumpkin (Estancia, F, 5-9); Erika Miller (Edison, G, 5-6); Wanda Sequeira (Tustin, G, 5-6); Rachel Ward (Costa Mesa, F, 5-11). Coach: Lisa McNamee (Estancia).

Boys’ rosters: North--J.J. Ballesteros (Mater Dei, G, 6-0); Tom Barraza (Western, G, 6-2), Kevin Carlson (Katella, F, 6-4); Carlos Duran (Orange, G, 5-11); Joe Foss (Esperanza, F, 6-3); Kevin Gaughen (Pacifica G, 6-0); Bryan Hakala (Los Alamitos, G, 5-11); Jason Janeski (Mater Dei, F, 6-6); Brett Mitchelson (Sunny Hills, C, 6-7); Ruben Oronoz (Whittier Christian, G, 6-5); Courtney Smalley (Cypress, G, 6-1); Nurishi Stevenson (Western, F, 6-3); Andy Trumpour (Savanna, F, 6-3); Tes Whitlock (Loara, G, 6-1); Kevin Wilborn (Canyon, F, 6-3). Coach: Richard Smith (Servite). South--David Beilstein (Tustin, G, 5-11); Josh Borella (Laguna Beach, G, 6-0); Thomas Clayton (Tustin, F, 6-3); Mike Fenton (Woodbridge, C, 6-5); Rob Johnson (El Toro, F, 6-4); Son Ly (Estancia, G, 6-0); Paul LaMott (Laguna Hills, F, 6-2); Brett McCorkle (Capistrano Valley, F, 6-4); John Molle (Irvine, F, 6-5); Brian Reider (Tustin, C, 6-6); Marcel TenBerge (Ocean View, C, 6-7); Ryan Westendorf (St. Margaret’s, F, 6-5); Chauncey Woolridge (Santa Ana, F, 6-3). Coach: Tom McCluskey (Tustin).