Girls’ Basketball Game a Family Feud

Neither coach will admit to anything publicly. They both say today’s El Capitan-Mt. Miguel girls’ basketball (at Mt. Miguel, 5:30 p.m.) is nothing more than another nonleague contest, a final preparation for the start of league play Friday.

El Capitan is 6-5, Mt. Miguel 1-11. There’s nothing special about the game, the coaches insist.

Don’t believe them.

Jim and Julie Mottershaw, husband and wife, are the coaches at El Capitan and Mt. Miguel, respectively.

It is believed to be the first coaching showdown between spouses in section history.

Blowout?: “El Cap should win by 20,” one Grossmont Conference coach predicted of today’s El Capitan-Mt. Miguel girls’ game. “Unless, of course, Julie takes the court. Then Mt. Miguel would win by 10.”

Julie Mottershaw, formerly Julie Evans, was a two-time scoring leader at San Diego State in the late 1980s.

Big loss: Mike Frank, a 6-2 junior forward for the Escondido boys’ basketball team, will likely miss the remainder of the season with what appears to be a herniated disk.

He leads the Cougars in rebounding (12 per game), steals (seven) and is second in scoring (12) and assists (five).

Frank, a second-team all-county football selection by The Times, initially injured his back during the football season.

Before the championship of the Rancho Bernardo basketball tournament in December, Escondido Coach Mike Williams said he could tell Frank was having problems with his back.

“He couldn’t even pick up his shoes in the locker room,” Williams said.

Frank still played most of the game before Williams finally pulled him in the fourth quarter.

He has not played since, and Escondido (5-6) has lost its first two Avocado League games.

Future roommates?: One of the oddest sights at The Times’ annual all-county football awards breakfast on Sunday was when two future Stanford University players struck up a conversation after the presentations.

Grossmont’s Ken Loncar is 6-feet-6, 275 pounds. La Jolla Country Day’s Eric Abrams is 5-7, 160.

Loncar, an offensive lineman, and Abrams, a kicker, have both committed to the Cardinal program.

Vardell’s last shot: Tommy Vardell will get one last chance to impress professional scouts on Sunday and also a chance to play tour guide this week. Vardell, a graduate of Granite Hills and the most prolific running back in Stanford history, will play for the West squad in Sunday’s East-West Shrine Classic at Stanford.

The Falcon of swat: Scot Pollard, a 6-foot-11 center for the Torrey Pines boys’ basketball team, blocked seven shots in the Falcons’ 60-48 victory over Fallbrook on Friday. Pollard is averaging 5.1 blocks per game.

Altar/Bad boys: Greg Lee, the boys’ basketball coach at Clairemont, pointed out Friday that his Chieftains had achieved a statistical miracle in their 65-54 victory over Point Loma in the Madison Madhouse Cage Classic.

In building a 26-14 lead, the Chiefs had not committed even one foul in the first half.

Point Loma was likewise polite, sending Clairemont to the free-throw line only once in the half.

Both teams more than made up for things, however, in the fourth quarter as they combined to attempt 41 foul shots.

“The first three quarters took about 27 minutes,” Lee said. “The fourth quarter took about an hour and a half. It’s not like the refs were bad or anything, but maybe they should have to watch the videos of these things.”

Titans strike again: Excuse the yawn, but the Poway wrestling team set yet another tournament scoring record this weekend. It was the Titans’ third scoring mark in as many tournaments this season.

For the record, Poway had 344 points. For comparison, runner-up Monte Vista had 207.

Poway had a finalist in 12 of the 13 weight divisions and both finalists at 130 pounds--Chris Hafer and Zane Johnson. It had seven champions.

Sean Malliet, at 189 pounds, became the fourth Titan to be named an outstanding wrestler at a tournament. The others were Corey Farkas (heavyweight), Steve Lee (103) and John Haas (171).

A Weeks vacation: Alison Weeks, returning from a trip to Europe over the winter break, had 27 points, 16 rebounds and seven steals in her first game back for the Valhalla girls’ basketball team last Tuesday.

Double B, triple E: Lauren Beebe of Grossmont nearly doubled her season scoring output with 25 points in the Foothillers’ 63-48 basketball victory over West Hills last Tuesday.

Beebe had scored only 28 points in Grossmont’s first 13 games.

Top girls’ league: Until league play started last week, every girls’ basketball team in the Palomar League was at .500 or better. Furthermore, each of the eight other leagues had at least one team with only two or fewer victories.

Freshman throwback: Torrey Pines freshman Nada Tomic is starting for the Falcons’ girls’ basketball team and averaging close to 10 points per game.

“She reminds me of the old days,” Torrey Pines Coach Ken Baumann said. “She shoots a running one-hander. She kind of reminds me of my days in high school.”

Baumann graduated from Fontana High in 1959.