Three Paths, One Goal : Way to the Top Hard for Combs, Davidson, Caine

Leah Combs, Lindsey Davidson and Debby Caine come into this season expecting more success than ever before--and with good reason.

They play on the county’s top three girls’ basketball teams, which are among the best in the state. Personally, each has enjoyed uncommon basketball success already.

But sometimes, even the best must battle a little adversity. It’s not always easy being good.

The Star

Combs sits in the empty gym, thinking about her not-too-distant past and swears that three of the worst days of her life were nothing more than “a dot.”

Those were the three days she had her mind made up not to play basketball her senior season.

Combs was a Times Orange County first-team player in 1996-97, a 6-foot-2 center with some well-orchestrated inside moves who had not yet made a college commitment. The enormity of her decision to quit basketball is obvious.

“It was so petty on my part,” she said.

It stemmed from a knee injury, her trip to rehabilitation, a giant misunderstanding and a little immaturity.

“[Coach Marc Hill] said you can go to rehab and you can be late, but let me know,” said Combs, who averaged 16.5 points and 8.3 rebounds last season for the Aztecs. “I did that. But I took it as though I would not be penalized for [being late]. So I didn’t start in some little summer game. I mean, it’s so stupid.

“At a water break, I wanted to know why I’m not starting--like I can’t go in four minutes later and not board as good or score as good. I think my pride got in the way.”

So much so that she blew her lid and said enough is enough.

“I said in my mind that I’m not coming back,” Combs recalled. “That was traumatic.”

Still, she showed up to practice the next two days despite having made the decision to quit.

“You know, I remember walking up to Coach Hill at the Run-and-Gun tournament in seventh grade and asked him if he needed an extra player,” Combs said. “From that day on, he has loved me like a daughter. He would die for any one of us.

“I look at the whole thing as a big argument between a father and a daughter.

“I don’t know to this day if he ever knew I felt this way.”

Hill said he heard second-hand from another coach later that summer. “From my standpoint,” Hill said, “I made a mistake by not specifying certain guidelines.”

Hill and the Aztecs seem to be doing the right things to reach Combs’ goal of winning a state title before embarking on her career at Arizona State. With practices spent fine tuning the offense, defense and individual skills instead of devoted to memorizing plays, the game has become second nature to most of the team.

“We’re focused, determined, and every day we’re pushing harder and harder--we’re more consistent,” Combs said. “Practices are completely structured to what we need.”

And if she had actually gone through with her decision to quit?

“It would have been,” she said, “the hugest regret of my life.”

The Holdover

The last time we saw Davidson, she missed 11 field goals, eight from beyond the three-point arc, in Brea Olinda’s 40-29 loss to Laguna Hills in the Southern California Division II final.

“I think good players take adversity and use it to improve their games,” said Laguna Hills assistant Jim Martin, who watched Davidson’s performance with wonder. “But I don’t know how much that game grated on her.”

It grated plenty.

Davidson was a sophomore shooting guard starting alongside four seniors on the team expected to win the state title from Day 1. Today, she’s the only starter back on a team that refuses to look beyond what is likely to be its 16th consecutive Orange League title.

“I learned that if you set your goals so high and you don’t reach them, it will kill you,” said Davidson, who admitted she didn’t sleep well for weeks after that game. “It will eat at you forever. We were supposed to win state last year, we were so set on it, but when we didn’t win, we couldn’t handle it. It was devastating.”

But it may have paid off in another way. Davidson came out of the high school basketball season and immediately played travel ball. She went out for the school’s track team (800 meters) for the first--and she says last--time. She also took to heart an off-season weight-training program.

“Physically, she’s so much more mature, which has helped her game,” Brea Coach Jeff Sink said. “Now, she really posts up very well. It’s given her more range on her three-point shot. She’s a lot quicker.

“Now, she can match her athleticism and skill with her strength, and I think it has added a sense of emotional maturity and confidence, which allows her to control the team.”

And make no mistake about it, the team is Davidson’s. But she’s happy to share after her experiences of last season.

As a sophomore, she was in charge of the intangibles, doing the dirty work alongside four good seniors. Davidson confessed to some resentment on her part.

“I think anybody would have,” said Davidson, who averaged 9.9 points and 4.2 assists. “They waited their three years to be in the spotlight, and it was their [senior] year. But it was hard.

“A lot of the time I felt held back, but I had to remember that it was their year. I couldn’t go in and just step up, because it would have been hard for them to accept. It bothered me, but I got over it. I lived with it. It’s something you couldn’t change.”

Except with time.

The Transfer

Caine has gone from a school that won a state title during her freshman season to a team that could win a state title this season. Part of the exodus that left Woodbridge a shell of its former self, Caine makes San Clemente’s cup runneth over.

She couldn’t be happier, more relieved or more determined.

“Since I’ve already won league and state titles,” Caine said, “I can help [San Clemente] discover what winning is.”

Caine has two league titles and one Division II state championship under her belt (in a reserve role as a freshman). As one of the county’s best point guards, she is trying to fit in with a team that has eight returning players, including five starters. One of those, senior Kelley Kruger, is also one of the county’s best point guards.

Kruger averaged 5.9 assists last season. Caine averaged 7.2, second-best in the county.

“In the past, teams really went after Kelley,” Coach Mary Mulligan said. “It’s such a relief that I don’t have to worry about foul trouble. And people can’t key on Kelley and wear her down.”

Because Caine can play shooting guard (she shot 36.8% from the three-point arc), pity the team that must face Caine and Kruger simultaneously.

“No one in their right mind would press us,” Caine said.

No one is likely to pick against them, either. The most difficult part of the season may already have passed as Caine eased into the team dynamic.

“There’s no apparent resentment,” Kruger said. “Everyone seems to be happy that she’s here.”

Including Caine, who experienced only slight awkwardness with teammates the first couple weeks.

“It’s the best decision I’ve ever made,” Caine said. “I get along with everybody--they all accept me. It has been a good transition.”

Ah, transition. The Tritons run the floor, shoot liberally and play pressure defense. “That fits my style of play,” Caine said.

So, too, did Woodbridge’s style. But when all-county second-team player Cathy Joens left for Calvary Chapel, Caine wasn’t far behind.

‘It might seem like I just left because my best friend left, but it’s not that way,” said Caine, who cited communication problems and a personality conflict with Woodbridge Coach Pat Quinn. “There were many other reasons--the team, the coach, the way the school was--there was pretty much no support from the students or the faculty, even though we were a good team.”

That likely won’t be a problem this year. Not with this team--made even better by her presence.