CENTURY GIRLS’ BASKETBALL : Villa Park’s Victory Proves Coach Right

When Len Whitacre took over the Villa Park girls’ basketball team last May, he developed a reputation right away.

A reputation as a nut case.

He told his players they were going to win the Century League championship.

They laughed.

Thursday night in front of a raucous home crowd, they all laughed together by scoring a 53-34 victory over Canyon, the preseason favorite, and claiming the championship outright.

They did it though their leading scorer, Tara Earl, was held to only nine points and was a non-factor because of foul trouble.

They did it with only one player scoring in double figures.

They did it despite setting a team record for fouls, 25.

And they did it with a defense that forced 21 first-half turnovers.

But most important to the program that had a 27-73 record over the previous five years, though, was that they did it, period.

Maureen Skehan scored 15 points, had four rebounds and 12 steals to lead Villa Park (14-6, 9-1), and Michelle Miyake and Earl scored nine apiece. Earl was averaging 15.3 points.

The loss stopped Canyon’s four-game winning streak.

“They had finished second three years in a row, and we felt if we could keep under control, we could get them early, that maybe (Canyon) would be too pumped up,” Whitacre said.

That’s what happened. Canyon (14-8, 7-3) made only one field goal in the second quarter and was outscored, 18-2. By halftime, it was 29-9 and the game was in the books.

Earl and Ashley Thurston (six points, seven rebounds) said the difference between this and last year’s 7-13 team was Whitacre and Skehan, a transfer from Illinois averaging 10 rebounds per game.

“(Whitacre) came in and told us right away that we were going to win the league and nobody believed it,” Thurston said. “I don’t think we believed it until we beat Canyon (50-37) the first time.”

Earl agreed: “I didn’t expect us to be champions--I figured we would win six or seven games.”

They’ve won nine in a row.

In other league games:

Santa Ana Valley 66, Orange 42--Marie Pulu scored 18 points and grabbed 19 rebounds for Santa Ana Valley (9-12, 5-5). Lilia Cervantes scored 10 for Orange (5-12, 2-8).

El Modena 66, Foothill 20--Jamie Shine scored 21 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for El Modena (10-10, 7-3).