USC’s Force of One : Crossing Paths With Joni Easterly Is No Comfortable Task

It’s safe right now. Joni Easterly is off the basketball court. No need to worry about wayward elbows or forceful body checks or that relentless pressure. It’s safe.

When it’s not, people know it. They have crossed paths with USC’s Easterly on the court. It’s not an uplifting experience.

“This player tried to drive around me this one time and I caught her in the eye or something,” Easterly said. “She fell down and I took the ball and went the other way. After the play was over, I thought, ‘Joni, you should have helped her up.’ I try to be nice, but this is business.”

Business has been good.

Easterly, a senior from Katella High School, has been a force--quite literally at times--behind USC’s success. There’s an intensity about her that doesn’t let the Trojans get down or that lets them down.

She has hit clutch shots and iced games with her cool on the free-throw line. But those are byproducts.

What makes her rock and the Trojans roll is that ‘either-you-or-me’ attitude. When it’s there, no one is safe.

“On the court, I have to push a button and become a ‘mean’ Joni Easterly,” Easterly said. “Off the court, I can push a button and become nice again.”

Easterly makes it look that easy.

This season, she is averaging 15.9 points and 6.4 rebounds for the Trojans, who are 17-5 and are in first place in the Pacific 10 with a 11-3 record.

But it’s not just the quantity that Easterly provides, it’s the quality.

She was there against Stephen F. Austin in the NCAA West Regional semifinals last season, hitting a three-pointer that clinched a 61-57 victory. She was there against UCLA last season, shaking off a poor performance, to nail another game-winning basket.

She refused to buckle even in her first college game, as she calmly sank two free throws to clinch a victory over Boise State.

“Most players, regardless of their class, would have been nervous,” USC Coach Marianne Stanley said. “It was a piece of cake for Joni. I remember that like it was five minutes ago.”

Time has flown at USC. Easterly walked onto the campus and into the lineup four years ago. She has started almost every game since, a tribute to her fierce play. She has played all five positions, another testament to her tenacity.

“Nobody plays harder than Joni,” Stanley said. “Nobody. She’s a coach’s dream.”

And an opponent’s nightmare.

“She’s extremely aggressive,” freshman guard Jody Anton said. “She is so intense on the court, that she’ll start yelling at you. You can’t imagine her yelling off the court.”

That’s the ‘nice’ Joni Easterly. The one who was a spokesperson for Students Against Drunk Driving. The one who takes time to work with younger kids. The one everyone loves to hang around with and others emulate.

“People tell me, ‘Joni, you’re so nice off the court, I just can’t see you being mean,’ ” Easterly said “When I put on that uniform, I become a different person.”

Stanley, who guided Old Dominion to three national championships, calls Easterly the most intense player she has ever coached. On a preseason questionnaire, each of the Trojans was asked to name the team’s most intense player. It was unanimous.

Even Easterly, on her questionnaire, picked herself and center Lisa Leslie.

“I don’t know where I get it,” Easterly said. “I did used to pick fights with my brother when I was 6. He was 10 years older than me, but I would hit him until he had enough. Then he would knock me down. I’d get right back up and hit him again. My mom would say, ‘Joni, I try to protect you, but you keep going back.’ ”

This somewhat insane approach has stayed with her.

During her sophomore year at Katella, Easterly played in the semifinals of the Southern Section 3-A playoffs with a broken leg. She then practiced all week and attempted to play in the championship game, only to collapse in a heap during the opening minutes.

“I just thought it was a pulled muscle,” Easterly said. “I kept telling the trainer, ‘You just have to get me back out there,’ ” Easterly said. “It was the championship game, after all.”

“That was typical Joni,” said Redlands Coach Mickey McAulay, who was then Katella’s coach. “She just thought she had to play through the pain.”

Those traits are still there.

Playing against Easterly is an excruciating experience. Practicing against her is no day at the beach, either.

“If you’re not there to play, you better not be out there,” Anton said.

Easterly finally had to buy knee pads last season, after battering her legs in practice and games.

“I looked like someone had beaten me,” Easterly said. “At one point, I couldn’t even cross my legs because my knees hurt so much.”

It’s nothing compared to the pain she has inflicted, figuratively speaking. There have been many times when Easterly has carried the team in the second half.

Like against Cal State Long Beach earlier this season, when she scored 18 of her 25 points in the second half. Or against Oregon two weeks ago, when she scored 15 of her 26 points in the second half.

But the moment that stands out most to her, and others, was the UCLA game last season. Easterly was having an atrocious game. She had made only one of 13 shots heading into the final minute.

Her frustration was so visible that Jim Easterly, her father, sent a note down when she was on the bench that said: “Remember, you’re the best.”

The Trojans called a timeout with 31 seconds left and the score tied, 71-71. Teammate Tammy Story turned to Easterly and said, “You need a game-winning shot.”

“I thought, ‘Sure Tammy, why would they even think of going to me?’ ” Easterly said. “Then Coach Stanley comes in the huddle and said, ‘OK, Joni, we’re going to you.’ ”

Easterly hit a 12-footer with eight seconds left.

“When it’s crunch time, we look to Joni,” Stanley said.

It’s been that way throughout her career. Easterly worked to make it that way.

“The first day she walked into the gym, I was amazed,” McAulay said. “She got down in a defensive stance and started sliding and I thought, ‘Whoa, we got an athlete here.’ ”

Easterly led Katella to the 4-A championship as a senior, as she averaged 22 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists. At times, she carried them.

Against Pasadena Muir in the 4-A title game, she scored 11 points in the fourth quarter and nine in overtime in a 54-48 victory.

“I always had so much time to work on my game back in high school,” Easterly said. “I would stay after practice and run ‘suicides’ until I was about to drop. Then I would make myself go to the free throw line and pretend it was a game-winning situation.”

Such preparation has paid off.

As a freshman, Easterly won three games with free throws in the final minute, including clinching an upset victory over Oregon.

“It’s what goes on between your ears that determines how awesome you’re going to be,” Easterly said. “Everybody has the skills at this level. It’s all mental.”

With a little physical thrown in.

“Oh, I’ve knocked a few people down in games,” Easterly said. “You knock them down. You elbow them. It’s all part of the game. When it’s over, you say, ‘Nice game, good job.’ ”