Proving He’s a Cut Above, Ellison Won’t Let Van Nuys Forget

Nothing like the past coming back to haunt you, especially when you don’t even remember it.

Such was the case Friday night for Van Nuys boys’ basketball Coach Kevin Kanemura, who watched Canoga Park’s Anthony Ellison score 21 points and grab nine rebounds to lead the Hunters to an 84-78 victory over the Wolves in a pivotal Mid-Valley League game.

Kanemura cut Ellison during Van Nuys tryouts in the fall of 1994.

“[Tryouts were] outside in the wind,” Ellison said. “It was the wackiest practice I ever went to. It just wasn’t my style.”

Kanemura, a former Kennedy assistant who had just taken over the program at Van Nuys, does not remember Ellison, but admits he had more than 100 potential players to weed out.

“I’m no genius. We all miss people,” Kanemura said. “But I honestly don’t remember him.”

The same can’t be said for Ellison, who remembers Kanemura quite well.

“I wanted to beat him real bad for cutting me,” said Ellison, who made three of four free throws in the final 57 seconds to help secure the victory over the Wolves.

Three weeks later, after the cut, Ellison transferred to Canoga Park, where he sat out one season because he was academically ineligible.

Now the 6-foot-3 junior forward is averaging 18.7 points, 11.2 rebounds and 3.8 steals for the Hunters (18-3), The Times’ No. 3-ranked team in the region.

And he’s not the only one ecstatic about the way things worked out.

“I’m very happy to have Anthony Ellison in the Canoga program,” Canoga Park Coach Ralph Turner said. “He’s a great kid. He’s become like a son to me.”

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Bell-Jeff’s Jacyln Johnson returned to the lineup this week for short but significant appearances.

Johnson is a 6-2 junior forward who was averaging 22.3 points and 14.3 rebounds in the first six games of the season before missing 15 games because of a stress fracture in her right shin.

She returned against Mary Star on Tuesday night and played for only six minutes. Still, she had seven points, five rebounds and six assists. Seem implausible? Not if you’ve seen her play.

“That’s why she’s averaging 22 points and 14 rebounds a game,” Coach Jim Couch said. “And if she hadn’t gotten hurt, I’m sure she’d be leading the area in assists.”

Johnson, who transferred from Quartz Hill over the summer, played only three minutes in the Guards’ 59-45 victory Thursday over St. Mary’s. Although she missed the only two shots she took, she had three rebounds.

Although lingering pain from her injury prompted her early exits this week, Couch expects her playing time to increase in the weeks to come.

But for now, Johnson, perhaps the best post player in the region behind Alemany’s Carly Funicello, is merely a role player for the talented Guards (18-5).

“We start her and get the crowd behind the team--and the team into the game--and pull her out,” Couch said. “I’m gonna be real conservative with her.”

After all, playoffs are just 10 days away.

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Area City Section basketball teams will find the 4-A Division playoff tournament a bit easier this year without Dorsey in the mix.

Dorsey, which this week was banned from the playoffs for a season for improprieties surrounding the academic eligibility of one of its players, has advanced to the championship game two of the past three seasons, defeating several area teams along the way.

But perhaps none more often than North Hollywood, which has been upset by Dorsey in the early rounds in two of the past three seasons. Still, North Hollywood Coach Steve Miller said the Dons will be missed.

“We’ve always had fabulous games with Dorsey and I have tremendous respect for [Coach Kevin Gibson’s] program,” Miller said.

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Don’t accuse Saugus softball pitcher Jamie Gillies of ducking tough competition. Gillies, one of the area’s top recruits, this week committed to Michigan.

Interesting choice considering that Michigan is where former Simi Valley ace Sara Griffin is playing--and pitching.

Griffin, who pitched, played shortstop and batted .444 last year, has a resume full of awards from her outstanding freshman season: Big Ten player of the year, Big Ten rookie of the year and first-team All-American to name a few.

But those accolades weren’t enough to scare off Gillies, who turned down offers from Indiana, Wichita State, Utah State and Boston University.

“I think I can help contribute,”

Gillies said. “I really have no problem with that. From what the coach said,

I’ll have a shot. I’ve just gotta work for it.”

Working is something Gillies admits she neglected last year. After a sophomore season in which she was 23-3 with a 0.49 earned-run average, she assumed her junior year would be a cakewalk.

“I honestly thought I was gonna come back and walk through it,” she said. “I thought I was gonna walk on the field and everyone was gonna say forget [trying to hit to her].”

Instead, some opponents hit her hard. Gillies’ ERA more than doubled to 1.05 and Saugus, top-seeded in Southern Section Division II, lost in the first round of the playoffs to La Mirada, 4-0, after Gillies got pounded in the first three innings and was yanked.

But Gillies, who has developed a knuckleball in the last two weeks, is determined to return to her formidable self for her senior season.

“I know this year I have to work my butt off,” she said.

Attitude adjustments never hurt.