Chey’s Game Is Above Politicking

Jennifer Chey is student body president at Rosary high School, but she got her lesson in politics last year.

Chey learned the game is played everywhere, and no matter their best efforts, not everyone gets what they want.

She averaged 15.5 points, 3.3 assists and 3.5 rebounds. But Sunset League coaches overlooked her in all-league voting. She didn’t make the first or second team.

On a last-place team in the county’s best league, she was the Royals’ only weapon.

“She cried for days,” said her coach, Brendan Powers. “Last year was pretty much unfair to her; it was just toss the ball to her and say, ‘Here, score.”’

And she did. She was anmong the county’s top 20 scorers. She carried Rosary to its 5-15 record, which might not sound like much but, “sometimes she would have four (teammates) standing on the court looking at her,” Powers said. “She was literally triple-teamed.”

As the season accelerated to oblivion-Rosary finished 2-12-Chey began looking for other silver linings. She made the all-league team her goal.

“(The season) was really frustrating because we kept losing and playing against really high-caliber teams,” she said. “It was frustrating being looked down upon in the league; I felt maybe we were laughed at because our team wasn’t ‘up to par.’ I could understand losing the first few games, but after all the hard work, you have to win. The losing kept snowballing and that wasn’t fun.

“I put a lot into this award, and (thought) maybe it will show that I’m pretty good, that we’re not so bad, that I’m not so bad. And when I didn’t get it, it was like maybe I’m not so good. Maybe the whole season would have been worth it if I could have gotten recognized. To have gotten nothing at all ... I was hurt.”

Chey is about as humble as they come. And Powers plans to use the snub as a motivational tool for his much-improved team. Over the summer, he told Chey’s teammates about it, though she had to leave because she was still so upset.

The Sunset League had the most exclusive all-league team in Orange County. Shandy Robbins, the league’s fourth-leading rebounder from league co-champion Marina, was the only junior recognized-as a second teamer. Chey was the league’s third-leading scorer.

“I thought I had a pretty good season,” Chey said. “It wasn’t a confidence thing-I needed affirmation. I put a lot of hope into this award and when I heard I didn’t get it, it kind of killed me.

“(My coaches) told me, ‘Don’t take it as a reflection on you, just use it as a tool to fire you up; don’t take it as a failure, but as a motivation.”

So this year, she won’t hold back. Bombs away.

“My feeling is there is no one girl who could guard Jennifer,” Powers said. “She can go right, go left, take the jumper, post up. How are you supposed to stop someone who can get in the air and then decide what hand they’re going to shoot with? She’s got the green light at all times.”

Ah, politics. That’s a vote of confidence

1992-93: IN REVIEW

Standings

League Overall School W L W L Huntington Beach 13 1 25 4 Marina 13 1 23 5 Ocean View 8 6 15 12 Fountain Valley 8 6 14 12 Edison 7 7 15 12 Santa Ana 3 11 9 13 Westminster 2 12 5 18 Rosary 2 12 5 15

Highlights

Orange county’s best girls’ game took place when Huntington Beach scored an 89-87 double-overtime victory over Edison, which got 50 points and 12 assists from Joan Paje. It was a crucial victory for the Oilers, who later beat Marina to earn a share of the league title. . . . Marina went further than any team in the playoffs, losing in the I-A semifinals to the state’s No. 1 ranked team, Thousand Oaks, 65-49. Huntington Beach lost in the semifinals, 64-60, to Ventura Buena, the team that beat Thousand Oaks in the finals. . . . League MVP Clare Walker (20.7 points, 14.7 rebounds) of Huntington Beach led the league in both categories.