The Rich Get Richer: Buena Adds Young

It was a question that raged this summer in girls’ basketball circles.

Where was Courtney Young going to transfer?

A sophomore All-American at Crossroads High last season and rated the No. 2 10th-grader in the country by one publication, Young was rumored to be on her way to just about every strong program in the Southland, from Brea Olinda to Westchester.

The speculation finally ended last weekend, when a moving truck pulled into a Ventura neighborhood and dropped the heralded swing player and her mother near Buena High’s doorstep.

Young’s arrival suddenly makes a perennial Southern Section powerhouse a contender at the state and national levels.

Young, a 5-foot-10 junior capable of playing four positions, averaged 26 points, 12 rebounds and six assists last season in leading Crossroads to the Division IV-A final and state playoffs.

She elected to leave the private Santa Monica school after two key starters graduated and Coach George Quintero resigned.

“I just wanted to go to a good academic school with a good basketball team,” Young said. “I thought Buena would be my best bet because I will be surrounded by good players until I graduate.”

There will be no shortage of talent at Buena, where Young joins a lineup that already features heralded post players Kelly Greathouse and Courtney LaVere.

The 6-4 Greathouse averaged 14.9 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.6 blocked shots and joined Young on the Cal-Hi Sports sophomore all-state team.

The 6-3 LaVere averaged 13.4 points, 8.7 rebounds and 2.3 blocked shots, earning freshman state player of the year and freshman All-American honors.

“It won’t even matter who else they have on the court,” said Coach Mel Sims of Chino Hills Ayala, a traditionally strong program. “They could have those three and two piano players and they would beat almost everybody.”

Buena has been doing that for years, winning two state titles, five section championships and its last 66 Channel League games.

And with each banner Buena raises, so do the eyebrows of rivals who suspect recruiting improprieties.

“I know other teams will talk and say we did [recruit],” Greathouse said. “But we honestly didn’t.”

As of Friday, Coach Joe Vaughan of Buena had yet to meet Young.

“To be honest with you, I wouldn’t know her if I saw her,” Vaughan said. “I know she has talked to our counselors, but I stay completely away from all that because we are such a high-profile program.

“From everything I hear, she’s a very good athlete and a fine young lady. I’m just hoping she’s the kind of kid who fits into the program. Chemistry is very important in a team-oriented program like ours.”

Young considered several schools before settling on Buena.

Sources said she applied to Harvard-Westlake and considered Brea Olinda, which has won 10 consecutive section titles, and Huntington Beach Marina.

“There are a lot of good programs and a lot of good teams,” said Young’s mother, Sharon Cromartie, who said she will commute from Ventura to her job in Glendale. “Above and beyond everything, academics was a consideration in wherever we were going to go.”

Buena, which lost all-county guard Kelly Murray to graduation, likely will use Young in the backcourt, but she can create match-up problems wherever she plays.

If opponents use a guard against her, Young can post up and dominate inside. She’s also too quick to be guarded by most post players.

“Every time I watch her play, I’m in awe of her skills,” said LaVere, who has played against Young at the club level.

Said Greathouse: “We have three people now who are all go-to players. If they double-team anybody, we can just kick it back to someone else and hurt people.”

Without Young this summer, Buena won the Nike North American Championship tournament in Santa Barbara, including victories over nationally ranked Mountain View of Orem, Utah, San Diego Section champion Rancho Buena Vista and Southern Section power Moreno Valley.

Young spent much of the last two months out of state, touring with her club team. She says she wasn’t aware of the rumors that swirled through Southland gymnasiums and over the Internet.

One basketball Web site had more than 50 items posted regarding Young’s pending transfer.

“I had absolutely no idea all that was going on,” she said. “I didn’t think it was that big of a deal.”

Correspondent Eric Stephens contributed to this story.