COLLEGES / IRENE GARCIA : Harbor Women’s Coach Proves Turnabout Is Fair Play

It is not uncommon for a community college athletic team to improve vastly from one year to the next, but a complete turnaround is rare. Yet that is what Coach Louie Nelson has done with the Harbor College women’s basketball program.

Last season, the Seahawks finished a disappointing 5-21 and 0-13-1 in the South Coast Conference. This season, Harbor is 15-6 and favored to win the newly created women’s Southern California Athletic Conference title.

Nelson, a former NBA point guard, expected to improve on last season’s finish, but is surprised at how quick it has happened.

“They came along a lot faster than I thought,” he said. “I recruited ladies from winning programs, but you never know about (community college) kids. They change their minds.”

Nelson, 39, was hired in the fall of 1990 after the school decided to reinstate the women’s program, which had been on a 10-year hiatus. With little time to recruit, he posted signs throughout the Wilmington campus in search of walk-ons.

“We were so bad last year . . . I’d say, ‘What can I do to keep the game respectable?’ ” Nelson said. “We knew we would lose, but the question was how to do it and keep some kind of respect.”

The Seahawks were often blown out by more than 60 points. They were humiliated by Saddleback, 95-29, and Long Beach City College, 102-39. Harbor lost to seventh-ranked Saddleback this season, but the Seahawks beat ninth-ranked Long Beach, 73-66, on Dec. 18. Harbor also beat highly regarded Mt. San Antonio College last week, and on Wednesday routed Pasadena City College, 79-39.

The consistent performances have allowed Harbor to break into the JC Athletic Bureau’s top 20 state poll, where the Seahawks have been ranked as high as No. 12.

“It feels good. It feels real good,” Nelson said. “Now they know Harbor has a true program. Last year we just had bodies. This year we have true athletes that can play basketball.”

The Seahawks went from an average of 46 points a game last season to 75 this year. The backbone of their up-tempo offense is sophomore forward Kim Young, who leads the team with averages of 24 points, seven rebounds and three steals.

Freshman guard Bridgete Williams averages 23 points, three assists and four steals and center Angelina Adams averages 12.2 rebounds.

“I wasn’t going to come here, but I played with the team in the summer and we started winning lots of games,” said Williams, a Morningside High graduate. “Still, at first my friends would say, ‘They’re sorry. They’re gonna lose. You’re gonna get your butt kicked.’ But we’re not. I’m really enjoying it.”

Nelson said the team has adjusted well to the loss starting point guard Jakeena Bacon. The freshman from Morningside suffered a knee injury against Long Beach on Dec. 18 and will probably miss the rest of the season. Freshman Joanne Williams is doing most of the ballhandling.

“It was a big blow to our team, but all the players are picking up the slack,” Nelson said. “They’re really playing hard for me.”

The Seahawks play host to L.A. Southwest College in a SCAC opener on Friday.

Nelson, an algebra teacher in the L.A. Unified School District, says he has always been motivated to win. He played on two state champion teams at Compton High and continued his career at the University of Washington, where he earned a degree in architecture.

At Washington, Nelson was named Pacific 10 Conference freshman of the year after leading the Huskies in scoring and assists. He was an All-American as a senior.

The Washington Bullets picked Nelson in the first round of the NBA draft and he spent the next six seasons as a point guard with the Bullets, New Orleans Jazz, Kansas City Kings, San Antonio Spurs and New Jersey Nets. At New Orleans, he was the backcourt partner of Pete Maravich.

His coaching career began in 1982, when he became an assistant for the men’s team at Cal State L.A. In 1989, he led the Compton High boys’ team to the semifinals of the state playoffs.

Melanie Midget, the only player back from last season’s team, says most opponents have a difficult time believing how much Harbor has improved.

“It’s really gratifying to be able to win like this,” Midget said. “The reason I stayed was to come back and face teams we lost to last year. I wanted them to see us at our best.”

Midget, 23, never played basketball before coming to Harbor. At Chadwick High she was a soccer player. After obtaining a history degree from UC Berkeley, Midget enrolled at Harbor last year to take science courses that would help prepare her for graduate school.

A friend of Nelson’s, who knew of her athletic background, asked Midget to join the team. She says she did it because she missed competing.

“It did get depressing last year, but we did have a lot of fun,” Midget said. “This year we’re also having fun but we’re winning, so we have the best of both worlds.”

Midget, who lives in Palos Verdes, is one of the Seahawks’ first players off the bench and is one of the team’s best rebounders.

The Harbor men’s team is also having a successful season under first-year Coach Carl Strong. The Seahawks are 15-8 overall and 3-0 in the SCAC after Wednesday’s impressive 105-81 victory at L.A. City College. The last time Harbor beat league powerhouse L.A. City was during the 1985-86 season.

“That was a big win for us,” Strong said. “We played the best game that we’ve played so far this year. Defensively we did a great job containing their shooters.”

Wednesday’s game had a twist because Strong and first-year L.A. City Coach Ron McClurkin coached together at El Camino during the last two years. McClurkin was the Warriors’ interim coach and Strong was one of his assistants.

“Ron McClurkin is one of my favorite people,” Strong said. “I can’t express how I feel. I’m always pulling for Ron . . . except when we play him. It was sort of a bittersweet win for us.”

Notes

Cal State Dominguez Hills forward Cheri Bullet (15.4 points, 9.9 rebounds a game) was named California Collegiate Athletic Assn. player of the week. The 6-foot-1 senior transfer from El Camino College had 44 points and 18 rebounds in two league victories last week. She is the school’s first CCAA player of the week since Adrienne Harris earned the honor in 1985. . . . Dionne Vanlandingham (10.7 points, 6.6 rebounds) became the first player in Dominguez Hills history to block 100 shots in a career. The 6-foot junior accomplished the feat in Saturday’s 57-49 victory over Cal State San Bernardino. She has 28 blocks this season. . . . Guard Chris Thompson became the first Toro player since the seventh game to average double figures in scoring. The freshman leads Dominguez Hills with 10.9 points a game. . . . Harbor College offensive lineman Tyler Tuione (6-4, 320 pounds, Hawthorne High) was recently named to the Western State Conference first team.