GIRLS’ BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES : Newport Harbor Has Experience in Winning

Two teams, two paths, same destination.

Brea-Olinda has been to the Southern Section championship game before. The Ladycats are athletic and, more important, true basketball players. They do the little things that separate great teams from very good teams. Three consecutive State titles are testimony to that.

Newport Harbor has no true basketball players. The Sailors reached their goal this season by advancing a game further than last year, when they lost in the semifinals. They have never been on a gymnasium floor the last day of the season.

Not in basketball, anyway.

But when they step on the court at 11:15 a.m. Saturday to tip off against the nation’s second-ranked team, they should be on even emotional terms with Brea-Olinda (28-0). See, the Sailors have played plenty of big games before--but in different sports.

The focus it took for Gina Heads to sink the free throws in the final seconds of Newport Harbor’s 43-41 semifinal victory over Newbury Park came not from having made big free throws before, but from stepping up to a barbell and performing a clean and jerk that lifted her into the nation’s elite for her age group.

Brea-Olinda players concentrate year-round on basketball. Newport Harbor (22-6) has players whose primary sport is usually something else.

Heads has the potential to become a world-class weightlifter and reached the State finals in the shotput and discus. Melissa Schutz and Tina Bowman were on the nationally ranked volleyball team. Genevieve Evarts has competed in international piano competitions and played tennis for the Southern Section runner-up. Mandy Clayton was a section qualifier in the triple and long jumps, and Bowman took third in the State high jump for the track team, which won the Division II title.

The full team came together Dec. 6, three weeks after most began practicing, because of the volleyball team’s success. The Sailors split their first eight games, but won 15 of their last 17. The two losses were to Woodbridge, which is playing for the Division II-AA title.

“We’ve been able to persevere with a group of gals who have less opportunity to practice together because they’ve been in pressure games, pressure track meets, pressure this and pressure that; they’ve learned how to deal with that,” Coach Shannon Jakosky said. “Parents and athletes are missing the boat when they encourage or limit an athlete to specialize in one sport.”

In the past calendar year, various Newport Harbor players have competed for Section titles in basketball, cross-country, track, swimming, tennis and volleyball.

None of Brea-Olinda’s players has played for a title other than basketball. Two have played for three State basketball titles, and eight have played for three section titles.

Jakosky said her team’s non-basketball experience should help. Brea-Olinda Coach John Hattrup agreed.

“They have as much experience in those types of situations as we do, except theirs is in different sports and ours is in basketball,” Hattrup said. “They don’t have any All-American basketball players, but they have All-American volleyball players.

“What those kids bring from other sports is that they go to the show; they’ve performed and they’ve won. If people think we’re looking past Newport, they’re crazy.”

Newport Harbor should be mentally ready for the challenge.

“Obviously, Brea is a great team, but that has nothing to do with us,” Jakosky said. “Half the battle of playing a team of Brea’s caliber is conquering the emotional battle before you step on the floor, of not conceding the victory before you play. I have confidence our athletes won’t do that. We’re not here to be sacrificial lambs; we’re here to play to the best of our ability.”