Cougars See a Difference With Twins : Basketball: Capistrano Valley is ranked second in the county, partly because of the addition of Katie and Susan Scott’s varied--and separate--talents.

Twins, yes.

Identical, no.

Katie Scott likes a good book, the fact that she’s an inch taller than her sister and a 15-foot jump shot.

Susan Scott likes getting her homework out of the way so she can talk on the phone, laughing at her sister when she gets mad and banging inside for a rebound.

They may look alike, but Capistrano Valley High School sophomore twins Katie and Susan Scott are far from exact replicas of each other. On the basketball court their differences have helped the Cougars become the second-ranked team in Orange County.

Before the season, Coach Harlan Peet knew the Cougar offense would revolve around high-scoring guards Alisa Farr and Angie White, but he wasn’t sure his team could match up against post-oriented teams. At 5 feet 11 (Katie) and 5-10 (Susan), the Scott sisters had the size but not the experience.

Both played junior varsity as freshmen and Peet thought it might take some time before the Scotts were ready to make an impact. In this case, time turned out to be the first week of the season.

“Right from the start, at the Irvine tournament, Susan and Katie did a great job,” Peet said. “We saw their natural ability last year, but they adapted immediately to this level of competition. We wouldn’t be where we are without them.”

Susan starts at center for the Cougars, who are 19-1 and finished the first round of South Coast League play last week with a 5-0 record. Capistrano Valley’s only loss came to top-ranked Brea-Olinda, 46-42, in the finals of the Irvine tournament, but it was in that game that Peet saw how far Susan had progressed.

“She was in there against Jody Anton and all those great players at Brea, and Susan held her own,” Peet said. “She scored eight points in a row for us in the fourth quarter to keep us close, and she played with so much confidence.”

Susan’s strength is her post defense and aggressiveness on the boards. Peet assigns her to the opponent’s center in a Capistrano Valley’s man-to-man pressure defense, and it’s a job Susan likes.

“Teams don’t like how we play defense on them, but I think it’s the best way to play,” Susan said. “I don’t like letting people catch the ball close to the basket, and not many teams deny passes like we do. They get frustrated because we try not to let them throw easy passes.”

If an opponent does get the ball in the post and turns to the basket, Katie is probably there to help from the weak side. As Capistrano Valley’s sixth man, Katie defends a forward when she’s in the game with her sister.

“Susan does a great job of post defense, and Katie seems like she’s always in the right place at the right time when Susan gets beat,” Peet said. “I don’t know if they’re consciously aware of how much they help each other, but I know it helps our defense.”

Peet encourages Katie to shoot from the high post and the wing. While Susan prefers driving to the basket, Katie’s offensive strength is a hard-to-block jump shot that’s accurate from 15 feet.

“We don’t restrict Katie on offense at all,” Peet said. “If anything, we’d like her to shoot a little more because she’s got a nice soft touch. She’s a versatile player, and she can score from just about anywhere.”

In many ways, the different playing styles reflect the personality differences between Katie and Susan. Katie is quiet and somewhat shy, Susan is outgoing and “wild,” according to her sister.

“She just says that because I’ll do things she won’t do, but they’re not bad things,” Susan said.

For instance? “Well, if we’re around people we don’t know, sometimes I’ll talk to them and Katie won’t, so that makes me ‘wild.’ ”

The twins share a room, clothes and a desire to beat each other in frequent one-on-one games on the driveway of their home. Katie and Susan know that the time they spent playing against each other over the summer contributed to their improvement this season.

Peet is just happy that both girls survived their many battles.

“There’s definitely a lot of competitiveness between them,” Peet said. “In practice, we always split them up in drills so they don’t go against each other. It didn’t start out as an intentional thing, but now I think it’s a good idea to keep it that way.”

Katie and Susan agree.

“If we’re against each other in practice, we try to kill each other,” Katie said. “It’s the same way with our one-on-one games. I have to tell Susan to calm down sometimes because she totally freaks when she loses her temper.”

Katie’s outbursts are far less frequent, but they always amuse Susan.

“It’s like she doesn’t know how to get mad,” Susan said. “I just laugh at her and tell her to go read a book or something.”

Katie, three minutes older, is considered by both twins as the better student. “That’s because I don’t spend all my time on the phone,” Katie said.

Peet admits he sometimes is confused over which twin is which, but he’s not alone. Opponents get them mixed up, and a referee once called a foul on Katie which should have been on Susan.

“People don’t get confused as much anymore because my hair’s long and Katie’s is short, but it still happens,” Susan said. “Sometimes, Mr. Peet will yell out during a game, ‘Good job, Katie . . . Susan . . . Katie?’ It makes us laugh.”

For many different reasons, opponents don’t seem to find it as amusing.