Iron Maiden : After Being Diagnosed With Anemia, Davis Returns to Top of Her Game at Long Beach

Something was wrong and everyone knew it, especially Ja’net Davis.

Most high school All-Americans simply don’t disappear so quickly, but Davis seemed to vanish each time she entered basketball games for Long Beach State. Much more was expected and Davis wanted to deliver, but the spark wasn’t there.

She had her moments, but they were usually brief and always infrequent. Davis noticed the frowns from her teammates, and the looks of disappointment and frustration from her coaches didn’t help either. She would have changed things if she could, but she didn’t have the energy.

Davis needed a change, but she didn’t try to refine her jumper or radically alter her game. Instead, she looked inward--literally.

A trip to the campus health center last season fixed Davis, and did wonders for Long Beach as well. Davis has reverted to her high school form, dominating games and leading the overachieving 49ers to their best season in a long while. And to think, all it took was a few iron pills . . . and a little encouragement.

“I didn’t have any energy at all before,” Davis said. “I couldn’t even get up the floor. A lot of people thought I was lazy or out of shape. This year, I’m ready to play and people see that.”

Davis said she suffers from anemia, a blood condition that results in lethargy. She didn’t realize she was afflicted until she underwent a battery of tests while trying to determine if her on-court problems might be physical.

“I didn’t know what was wrong,” Davis said. “I knew I could do it, I knew I could play better, but I didn’t know what to do.

“I was really frustrated, and it bothered me because I knew I could play better than I was playing. When I took the tests I was like, ‘Wow, that’s it?’ ”

Davis, a 6-foot-4 senior center, takes iron pills twice daily. She said the pills have helped to improve her strength and stamina.

“Just that little thing,” Davis said, “turned everything around.”

But anyone who has seen Davis play doesn’t have to be told of her turnaround.

“She’s playing well,” UC Irvine women’s Coach Colleen Matsuhara said. “She seems to be playing a lot more minutes, and it looks like her endurance has improved a lot too.”

More than anyone, except Davis, thought possible, Davis said.

“People keep coming up to me and they ask, ‘What happened?’ ” Davis said. “I think a lot of people are surprised because my numbers have really jumped up.”

More like skyrocketed.

Davis averages 14.1 points and is sixth in the Big West Conference in rebounding at 8.3. But Davis is at her best on defense.

She leads the conference in blocked shots with 91. She averages 3.5 blocks and is third in the nation, and needs nine blocks to break the 49ers’ single-season record. Cindy Brown had 99 blocks during the 1985-86 season.

“It was kind of weird talking to the Big West coaches at the beginning of the season when I got the job,” said Dallas Boychuk, the 49ers’ first-year coach. “They said they had seen flashes of Ja’net playing well. They told me that if she could do it all the time, it would be great for [me].”

As a junior, Davis averaged three points and 3.7 rebounds while backing up standout center Melissa Gower. The numbers were 3.5 and 2.8 as a sophomore.

Not exactly eye-opening stats, considering many college coaches believed Davis possessed star qualities while in high school. Davis was a two-time high school All-American at Inglewood Morningside and Lynwood highs. Davis played two seasons at Morningside with former USC All-American center Lisa Leslie, now the center on the U.S. National Team.

“It was nice playing with Lisa,” Davis said. “I think she overshadowed me a little, but she taught me a lot of stuff.”

Davis, 21, accepted a scholarship from Kansas but failed to qualify academically. She attended Kilgore (Texas) Community College after graduating from Lynwood. After completing a semester, she enrolled at Long Beach and began what looked like a disappointing college career.

Enter Boychuk. Almost immediately on arriving at Long Beach, Boychuk challenged Davis to be more aggressive and offered unwavering support. Combined with Davis’ newfound energy, Boychuk’s encouragement has been a winning formula.

Long Beach is 15-11 and 10-7 in the Big West, entering its final regular-season game Sunday at the Pyramid against UC Santa Barbara. Long Beach was picked to finish eighth in a preseason poll of conference coaches but will finish at least fifth.

The 49ers are assured their first winning season since 1991-92. Moreover, they have clinched a spot in the six-team Big West tournament, scheduled March 7-9 at the Lawlor Events Center on the Nevada campus.

“It’s great playing for [Boychuk],” Davis said. “She believes in us and she pumps us up a lot. Last year, I think there was a lot of conflict on the team. Our team is like a family this year, and we don’t get our heads down if something goes wrong.”

Davis has averaged 18 points as the 49ers have won nine of their last 12 games. And the former “lazy” player has been selected the Big West’s co-player of the week twice in the past four weeks.

“She has a lot of confidence and she has the skills,” Boychuk said. “In my opinion, Ja’net is one of the better centers on the West Coast.”