Shadian Driven by Her Passion to Play : High schools: Poway guard has excelled by becoming a basketball junkie.

“I remember playing youth basketball when I was little and you always knew that when you played against Jamie Shadian, you were going to lose. And it was always Jamie’s Team you were playing, never the Blue Lightning or whatever. It was always Jamie’s Team.” --Jen Blankenbeckler, now Shadian’s teammate

There is not a gymnasium in America in which Jamie Shadian wouldn’t spend a vacation. She is a bona fide basketball player, one whose very essence springs from the joy of shooting a ball into a hoop, who gets tingles when she sees defense played properly, and who loves nothing more than pulling on her shoes and giving new meaning to the term “floor burns.”

Shadian is the Poway High School point guard who has led the Titans to two consecutive San Diego Section titles and two top-10 state rankings. She made the all-tournament team at last weekend’s Bronco Invitational, which Poway won, and is a good candidate to do the same at the Tournament of Champions at Santa Barbara High School beginning Saturday. The Titans (3-0) are ranked fourth in Cal-Hi Sports’ preseason state poll after finishing seventh last year and losing only one starter. They are the No. 1 team in San Diego.

They are Jamie’s Team.

“I think she’s the key reason they’ve had so much success,” said Rancho Bernardo Coach Peggy Brose, who watched Shadian score 19 points in a game in which Poway overcame an 11-point third-quarter deficit to take a 54-53 victory in the Bronco tournament final.

Shadian, last year’s 3-A player of the year as a junior, has committed to play for the University of San Francisco. She is recognized as the county’s best guard and one of its two best players--Carlsbad’s Vanessa Nygaard, out with a fractured ankle, is the top post player.

“It’s the intangibles that sets them apart, someone who wants the ball when the game is on the line,” said Brose, whose teams have won two section titles. “Everyone has to have a Christian Laettner: Everyone in the gym knows that’s the person the ball is going to but they can’t stop it from happening. She has that cocky confidence--’I’m good and the team’s good and this is what the team is going to do and just try and stop us.’

“As long as it doesn’t get to the point of obnoxiousness, I think that’s what every coach would like to have--a player who will do whatever it takes to help their team win.”

Poway’s record since Shadian joined the varsity three years ago is 57-6. She’s done whatever it took. And she’s done it through hard work.

“She is one of the true gym rats I’ve coached in my six years at Poway,” said her coach, Jay Trousdale. “That has made her the player she is and helped her get a college scholarship.”

That’s the recurring description of Shadian by those who know her.

Gym Rat.

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“You hear of a Larry Bird and you know of his love of the game, and her love of the game is as great as that. She loves to play and she loves to watch it, and when you have the ability along with the interest for the game, that’s a good combination. A great combination.” --Jay Trousdale Poway coach

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It is almost always a stretch to mention Larry Bird and a high school basketball player in the same sentence, but not this time.

“Basketball is me,” Shadian said. “I like to do other things, but I’d rather be playing basketball than anything else. That’s where I feel most comfortable--on the court.”

And so she spends as much time as possible on the court, either working out with her team or going along with her friend from Mission Bay High, Lauren Andrade, to University of San Diego or Black Mountain Middle School or the Mira Mesa Rec Center for open gym.

“I go to USD and there will be mostly college girls there,” Shadian said. “That’s the best competition. I think I improved a lot by playing with them. That’s getting a taste of what college basketball might be like.”

She has always sought out and played against the best she could find. Always athletic, her basketball career began in fourth grade when her mom and biggest supporter, Sandy, told her about a youth league in Poway. She was one of only three girls in the league, and although “the tryouts were horrible,” she said she picked it up quickly and even made the all-star team.

“I think the thing that really helped me was the first two years I played, I played with guys,” said Shadian, who continues to play against the boys at Black Mountain’s open gym.

“I started going there a year ago and no one would pick me up. And then after they knew I could hang with them, they started picking me. At least they respect me. I don’t think they see me so much as a girl. I think a couple of times, if I drive down the lane, maybe they won’t block the shot, and that annoys me because I don’t want them to play against me differently than if I was a guy.”

On top of that attitude comes a willingness to work extremely hard. Shadian has been to nearly 40 basketball camps since she first stepped on the hardwood.

“When I first started, it wasn’t so much that I was pretty good for my age, but I enjoyed the game,” she said. “There are a lot of girls in San Diego that I feel have a lot of talent, but I don’t know if they have a love for the game to go out and practice all the time on their own. I always wanted to go out and shoot in my front yard. Rarely a day goes by that I don’t pick up a ball. Sometimes when I’m tired, or have homework, I won’t, but I feel guilty when that happens because I know that there’s someone out there who’s practicing.”

Which is why she can’t wait to get to college.

“I’ll finally go to a team where everyone on the team loves basketball as much as me and they’re there because they love to work and want to be good,” Shadian said. “I love my team, so I’m not saying this in a negative way, but it’s frustrating because I expect everyone on the team to love basketball as much as me. I know there are some days some girls don’t want to be at practice, so me and my team have an understanding--if they don’t want to be at practice, they won’t say so around me.”

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“Last year we were playing for the league title, and we had beaten them the first time, and she came out of the game (with six minutes remaining) and had outscored my whole team, 24-23.” --Tracey Johnson, Mt. Carmel coach

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Shadian’s strength is her ability to create opportunities once she gets the ball, and her defense plays a big role in that. She averaged 12.1 points per game last year, had 88 assists and 81 steals. She shot 38% from the three-point line (37 for 97) and will become one of the section’s top three three-point shooters if she matches that performance this year. Those numbers are good, but deceiving because they were posted in about 2 1/2 quarters per game.

“Jamie’s numbers would be significantly higher if she were allowed to play a full game on a regular basis,” Trousdale said. “We’ve had a number of significant leads the last two years, forcing her to come out a lot earlier than she would in a tougher game.”

Last year the Titans had only three games decided by fewer than 10 points.

But Johnson, who has coached more games against Shadian than anyone, has found a weakness in the 5-foot-7 point guard’s armor.

“I told her this last year--she tries to get everyone else going first, and then gets herself involved,” Johnson said. “I think if she did it the other way around, she’d be even better.

“She’s definitely the total package with the three-pointer and the ability to drive and dish. (But) I’ve seen games where she doesn’t take a shot in the first quarter--she penetrates and she dishes. Half of Kara Milling’s (22) points against us (in Poway’s 61-35 victory) was Jamie practically handing her the ball. She would beat somebody off the dribble, somebody would come to help and she would hand the ball to Milling.”

It’s Jamie’s Team. She can do what she wants.