Taking Their Chances : Laguna Hills’ Haneef Is Making This Her Last Shot at Basketball

Tayyiba Haneef, at almost 6 feet 7 the county’s tallest girls’ basketball player, eschewed the sport in which she has such a dominating presence for a sport she thinks will take her further.

Her signature two weeks ago on a national letter of intent to play volleyball (and compete in track and field) at Long Beach State brought an end to the internal conflicts she faced at Laguna Hills, where she was a three-sport star who never took the time to specialize in anything.

That means the Southern Section basketball playoffs that begin this week represent Haneef’s last chance to prove herself to those who contend she could have been one of the best players in county history.

Haneef’s last stand?

Laguna Hills is 23-3 and seeded No. 1 in Division II-AA, but a loss prior to the Section final will end Haneef’s basketball career.

“If I had to tell you who we could get by with the least, it would be Tayyiba,” Laguna Hills Coach Lynn Taylor said. “She, more than any other individual, alters the other team’s offense. Teams do not go inside on us on a consistent basis.”

There is no disputing Haneef’s presence defensively. No one in the county has a greater individual impact. No one.

She has 97 blocks this season and she has altered innumerable others. Her totals could have been even higher. When Taylor lets up on opponents in one-sided games, Haneef is the first player he takes out. So even her statistical performance is misleading.

But here’s what she has done in a few big games:

* In three games against Woodbridge (seeded second in II-AA), including two victories, she averaged 18.3 points and 13.3 rebounds and she blocked 16 shots.

* In a 63-38 victory over Mater Dei, she had 13 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks.

* In a 54-44 victory over Century, which has three players 6-2 or taller, she had 20 points and 10 rebounds.

* In a 34-30 loss to Harbor City Narbonne, she had 15 points, 15 rebounds and 11 blocks.

Not all nights have been brilliant. Though she says she wasn’t intimidated, there are those who watched Los Angeles Washington’s 49-36 victory over Laguna Hills and said Haneef was intimidated against an athletic, physical team. The numbers: two points, six rebounds.

“I know our team is good enough to play with just about any other team,” Haneef said. “I don’t need to be intimidated.”

During the regular season, Haneef averaged 12.9 points, 9.7 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game.

She has certainly showed enough flashes of brilliance that some wish Haneef’s decision about which sport to play in college had gone the other way. Aliso Niguel basketball Coach Deni Christensen, once a 6-4 center and former Cal State Fullerton assistant specializing in post play, is one of them.

“I was disappointed she didn’t choose basketball, just for selfish reasons,” Christensen said. “Our volleyball coach, Kari Tubbs said she could be an awesome volleyball player. Any coach that looks at her probably sees her in terms of their own sport.”

Haneef is a two-time All-Pacific Coast League player in volleyball after getting a late start in the sport--as a sophomore.

This will be her third season as a first-team, all-league player in basketball. She was the league’s co-most valuable player last year with teammate Tamara Inoue, the point guard.

Haneef might be most impressive in track and field. She took third in the state high jump competition last year with a leap of 5-8. She has jumped as high as 5-10.

“This year, the Olympic trials qualifying standard was 6-1,” Haneef said. “Six-three was an average jump, and I think I’m pretty close to that standard. My goal is to be on the Olympic team, whether it’s track or volleyball. I’m going to college to pursue that goal.”

And that’s where basketball, played in the winter, got squeezed out. Volleyball is played in the fall, track is in the spring.

Taylor said Haneef’s decision to pursue volleyball wasn’t surprising. “Last year, I committed myself to believing that she was going to college to play volleyball,” he said. “What she did didn’t shock me at all. What she’s done for us this year--playing really hard, providing excellent leadership--that’s all been a bonus for us. Even though she committed to volleyball, she hasn’t slacked off on her commitment to the team.”

Taylor apparently knew something Haneef didn’t. She wasn’t sure of her decision until Feb. 5, the first day seniors could sign letters of intent during an early signing period.

“When I came into the [basketball] season, I had no idea what I wanted to do,” she said. “It was primarily a choice between basketball and volleyball; I knew I wanted to compete in track wherever I went. It often changed. I would go to club volleyball, have a good match and know I could play volleyball in college. Then I would play basketball, like the third Woodbridge game, and think, ‘Oh, I can do this in basketball.’ ”

If she had decided on basketball, her choices were USC, Arizona and Long Beach State. Instead, Louisiana State lost out in the volleyball sweepstakes.

For now, there could be as many as eight more games remaining in Haneef’s career--or as few as one.

The game of the year for Laguna Hills and Haneef was the third Woodbridge game. Haneef played with an uncommon aggressiveness and had 19 points, 10 rebounds and eight blocked shots in a 55-48 victory at Woodbridge. That, she said, was her defining moment, the one that proved what she was capable of accomplishing nightly.

“I knew I couldn’t have done anything more than what I did,” Haneef said. “I was satisfied with what I did, and the way I played proved to everyone that I could play the game. I didn’t feel I had to prove myself anymore.”

Haneef has her critics, certainly. They say she plays to the level of competition, which she admits. And they say she doesn’t work as hard as some teammates, especially Inoue, Whitney Houser and Mary Tims.

“It doesn’t really matter to me what other people say,” Haneef said, “as long as I go out there and give it everything I had.”

Taylor says Haneef does work hard. And Haneef says she has lived up to her own expectations.

“Some of that is perception,” Christensen said. “I think [Haneef] has what a lot of coaches call the ‘Nice Big Girl Syndrome.’ If they could just change a little bit about their basic personality, they could be so much better. When they bump you, they say they’re sorry. They feel guilty about taking advantage of their size. It’s hard to overcome that. You’re trying to be feminine, trying not to be a bull in a china closet, trying not to call attention to yourself, and then you get on the basketball court and you’re supposed to be tough and mean. She’s such a nice kid, and maybe isn’t real comfortable exerting her size.”

Haneef’s father, Mo, agreed.

“She’s not really aggressive by nature,” he said. It’s been hard to get that real competitive drive out of her because she’s been playing for fun. She figures if she can do that and have fun, why be aggressive?

“In volleyball, she feels she blends in. Track is an individual sport. But in basketball, where she’s head and shoulders above everyone else, she feels physically that she has to do so many things well and stay in control all the time and not be too aggressive. That’s one of the times you’re supposed to take advantage of being big.”

Potential? Absolutely.

Realized potential? She thinks so, but the jury’s out.

“Her biggest allure is her defense; defensively, with the right team behind her, she’s a nightmare,” Christensen said of Haneef. “Offensively, on a scale of 1-10, she’s only about a 6. I think she could develop into a premier center, but it takes a lot of work, and I don’t think she could do that without dedicating herself.”

Instead, that dedication will be pointed elsewhere, leaving Haneef with precious few basketball games left in her career. Laguna Hills is the No. 1 choice to win the section championship, and the team has realistic hopes of winning a state title. And for a player who admits to playing to the level of competition, Haneef’s best may be ahead of her.

“We just have to take it one game at a time,” Haneef said.

That journey begins Saturday.