Esperanza’s Hill Has Made the Most of His Lineup

It could have been almost anybody.

It could have been Lynn Taylor, last year’s winner, who directed Laguna Hills to a state championship.

It could have been Bill Seibert, who took over Ocean View’s program and never lost a step.

It could have been Mary Hauser, who coached Mater Dei into the top five despite losing a lot of talent from last year’s state champion.

It could have been Mary Mulligan, who directed San Clemente to only its second 20-victory season.

Or it could have been the coaches of the surprises of the Sunset League, Huntington Beach’s Bill Thomson or Edison’s Dave White.

But in the final analysis for Times Orange County girls’ basketball coach of the year, it could really be only one person.

Esperanza’s Marc Hill.

It was a coach of the year kind of season for Hill, who had only one senior--a non-starter--on his junior-laden team. He reconfigured his lineup when one of his best players, senior Jessica Sudduth, left before the season began to care for her father, who was injured in an automobile accident.

The lineup was juggled some more when sophomore starting point guard Kim Omer suffered a back injury in the first game of the season and missed 14 games--a span that accounted for four of the team’s six losses.

Things got worse when shooting guard Heidi Hill, the coach’s daughter, suffered an ankle injury that hindered her in the early going.

Despite all the adjustments, the Aztecs opened 11-4 and closed the season 11-2 when a sense of normalcy returned to the lineup.

That stability coincided with the beginning of the Sunset League schedule.

And Hill’s team dominated the Sunset League.

It is traditionally the toughest girls’ basketball league in Orange County. And this season, with unparalleled parity, everybody beat everyone.

Everyone except Esperanza.

The Aztecs were 9-1, winning the league title. Four teams had five or six losses. Four teams from the league appeared among the county’s top 10 at one point. All six made the playoffs.

Esperanza finished the regular season 22-6 and was seeded third in the Southern Section Division I-AA playoffs. For the first time, the school showed an ability to compete at the large-school level.

Hill got to coach perhaps the most memorable game of his career in the playoffs, when a three-pointer at the buzzer by guard Beth Weidler, who had not yet scored in the game, gave Esperanza a 44-42 victory over Century in the second round.

There was disappointment too. In the quarterfinals at Fontana, the Aztecs lost, 65-56.

His team was a collection of players who, for the most part, had not been in a championship-game atmosphere. They had to learn together, under a coach who improved his 15-year career coaching mark to 247-136, a very respectable .645 winning percentage.

Coaches usually do their best coaching--and the most coaching--when they have less talent. Teams that are loaded are expected to win. Though the cupboard was hardly bare for Hill--he did have Leah Combs, after all--there was plenty of manipulating and molding that took place along the way.