Getting a Shot : Women Basketball Players Finally Have Summer League of Their Own

It is a drizzly Saturday morning, and the USC campus is quiet. The doors to the Physical Education Building are locked, except one, which is propped open by a floor mat.

The silence is broken by the sound of basketballs hitting a hardwood floor, and it soon is apparent that, in the North Gym at least, school is in session.

The Say No Classic, a women’s summer league for college, former college and promising high school basketball players, is in full swing.

These are no pickup games.

Rhonda Windham, league director and a former All-Pacific 10 Conference guard at USC, has made sure of that.

“Rhonda went out and got coaches and players who really wanted to teach the game,” said Cheryl Miller, who led USC to two national titles and the Olympic team to a gold medal in 1984.

There has been a men’s Say No Classic for 10 years, but previous attempts to get a women’s league going failed because of low turnout and faulty organization, Windham said.

Windham, a public relations assistant with the Lakers, said she was able to make the league work because her reputation as a former player “gave the league instant credibility.”

The eight teams in the league have been playing a round-robin schedule on Saturdays and Sundays since June 20, with four games a day. A single-elimination playoff will determine a champion on Aug. 2.

All games are in the North Gym, which has banners commemorating the 1976, 1977 and 1980 USC volleyball teams, which won national championships in the Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women. They are reminders that the NCAA didn’t begin to sponsor women’s sports until 1981-82.

The relative infancy of women’s collegiate sports is one of the reasons the Say No Classic is so important, Miller said.

“There are just not enough quality leagues around for women to play in over the summer,” she said.

Lisa Leslie, a second-team All-American last season at USC, is one of the players bringing quality to the Say No Classic.

“We’re trying to improve the women’s game,” Leslie said. “We finally learned that we have to do it ourselves, instead of sitting around and waiting for people to watch us. We just have to get together someplace and play. It’s overdue, but it’s great that it’s finally happening.”

With her college basketball connections, Windham was able to get six former college players--including Miller--and two current high school coaches to coach the teams in the league.

“I think what makes this league special is there are a lot of idol players around here,” Leslie said. “It’s like for men, when Magic Johnson is there, the level of play improves. With Cheryl and Rhonda here, they are the top idols of a lot of these girls. For them to be here and show that they care, that inspires a lot of the younger players.”

Said Miller:, “I think there’s a real need for some of the older players to give back to the younger players coming up.”

Besides Leslie, the league includes high-profile players such as Tammy Story, who was All-Pac-10 last season at USC, and the Palos Verdes twins, Heather and Heidi Burge, who started on Virginia’s 1992 Final Four team.

Among the high school players and spring graduates are three of the five on the All-California first team: Cherisse Sampson of Washington High, Jody Anton of Brea-Olinda, and Kristen Mulligan of Palos Verdes Peninsula. Sampson, who is headed to Kansas, was the California player of the year, and Anton, a USC signee, was the Division III player of the year. Mulligan will play for Auburn.

Players such as these are perhaps the ones who benefit most from the league.

“It gives me a taste of what college ball will be like,” said Jeffra Gausepohl, who played at Peninsula and will attend Virginia. “When you’re in high school and you look at college ball on the floor, there’s a lot going on that you can’t really see. I think the more physical play has helped prepare me for the (Atlantic Coast Conference), which is one of the most physical leagues in the country.”

Leslie said she tries to teach the younger players by example.

On Saturday, Leslie was playing against 16-year-old Marte Alexander, who will be a junior at St. Bernard High. Leslie is 6 feet 5. Alexander is 6-3.

“I could tell she was a young kid just playing against her,” Leslie said. “I didn’t say anything to her while we were playing, but I just showed her different things. I showed her different ways to guard her. Then she started using some of them on me.”