No Bricks in the ‘House : Buena’s Greathouse Seeks Storybook Ending to Impressive Career

The end of a great high school basketball career is staring her in the face.

Buena High center Nicole Greathouse will soon walk away as the region’s most dominating center and one of the top five players ever in what many consider the best girls’ basketball program in Southern California over the past 20 years.

Her destiny lies 25 miles north.

Greathouse, a 6-foot-2 senior, has a basketball scholarship to UC Santa Barbara. The Gauchos are in the NCAA tournament and they expect to return next year, with Greathouse in the starting lineup.

Greathouse wants to put that thought on hold until March 22.

Greathouse and her teammates will be disappointed if they don’t play that day in the Division I state championship game at the Pond in Anaheim.

In her four varsity seasons, Greathouse has helped the Bulldogs to a 106-11 record, but they haven’t made it past the Southern California Regional.

After routing Lynwood, 68-40, Tuesday, the Bulldogs (27-2) are two victories away from their first berth in a state championship game since 1984, when they won the title.

“There’s no doubt in my mind we can win it,” Greathouse said. “But if we lose, nobody here is going to say, ‘Oh, well. We had a great season.’ ”

Buena has a .914 winning percentage since Coach Joe Vaughan took over the program in the 1974-75 season.

And nobody knows about the Bulldogs’ winning tradition better than Greathouse.

She was born in Ojai in 1979, but her parents soon moved to a house one block from Buena.

Greathouse attended her first Buena game at age 5 to watch her baby sitter, Camille Adair, a backup center.

“I used to think, ‘Gosh, I hope I can play here someday,’ ” Greathouse said. “I don’t remember Coach Vaughan yelling like he does now. But I’m sure he did.”

Greathouse laughed. She enjoys poking a little fun at her coach. Vaughan is almost like family, considering he coached Greathouse’s father, Randy, on a lower-level team at Buena in the early 1970s.

Randy Greathouse was a teammate of actor Kevin Costner, still a big Vaughan supporter.

“I guess my dad wasn’t that great, because he was on the ‘C’ team,” Greathouse said. “But he says Kevin wasn’t very good either.”

As a player, Greathouse will leave a lasting impression.

She has scored more than 1,500 points and grabbed more than 1,000 rebounds in three seasons as a starter.

“We had a lot of great players here, but she ranks among the top five kids we’ve ever had,” said Vaughan, who has sent several players to Division I colleges. “She’s a dominating player, a physical specimen.”

Greathouse is averaging 19.1 points and 11.6 rebounds, and she has been a big part of Buena’s playoff success in the past two seasons. Particularly against Mater Dei.

She had 18 points and 17 rebounds in a 51-50 victory over the Monarchs in this season’s section semifinals.

Last year, Greathouse had 23 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks in a 56-51 victory over Mater Dei for the section championship. Greathouse helped preserve the victory with two blocks in the final 1:30.

Greathouse is reluctant to take too much credit for her team’s success, and she plays down personal achievements. This was evident when she mentioned her career-high, 18-rebound performance as a freshman.

“Don’t be impressed,” she said. “They were all shots that I missed.”

But Crescenta Valley Coach Marc Ward said Greathouse is a one of the most polished players he has seen.

“What I like is her great court sense, and she’s got a nice outside shot,” Ward said. “We tried to defend her inside last year and she drained shot after shot from 15 feet.”

Ward’s Falcons lost to Buena, 59-55, in the Division I-A championship game last week.

After both teams won in the first round of the regional tournament, Crescenta Valley hopes to get another shot at the Bulldogs in the regional final.

To win, the Falcons must find a way score inside against Greathouse.

“She’s strong and aggressive at the post,” Ward said. “A lot of girls don’t like that physical contact.

“But she likes to push you around both on offense and defense, and that’s not something you naturally teach.”

That physical quality is what most impressed coaches at UC Santa Barbara, which brings a 24-5 record into the NCAA tournament against Tulane (24-6) this week.

“She has tremendous athletic ability and tremendous competitiveness,” Gaucho assistant coach Cori Close said.

Close says Greathouse could start at forward next season.

“She’s someone who’s going to help lead us to the Final Four,” Close said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Harbor City Narbonne (23-5) vs. Buena (27-2)

WHEN: Tonight, 7:30 p.m.

WHERE: Buena High, Ventura.

DIRECTIONS: 101 freeway to Victoria Ave., north to Telegraph Road, west on Telegraph, south on Wake Forest. School is on the left.

TICKET INFORMATION: Adults $7, students $4.

WHO TO WATCH: Buena center Nicole Great-house is averaging 19.1 points and 11.6 rebounds for the Southern Section Division I-A champion. She had 23 points and 13 rebounds Tuesday in a 68-40 victory. Narbonne, the City Section 4-A Division runner-up, upset San Diego Rancho Bernardo, 59-51, Tuesday and is led by senior guard-forward Kawai Matthews, who averages 14 points and nine rebounds.

FAST FACT: Buena is making its fifth consecutive semifinal appearance in the regional. Narbonne is playing in its first regional.