Playoff Game Gives Sister Act Chance to Brag
Nicole Greathouse and Tawnee Cooper have helped build UC Santa Barbara into one of the top women’s basketball programs in the nation, but they’ve spent recent days needling one another.
Buena High, Greathouse’s alma mater, will travel to Simi Valley, Cooper’s former school, tonight for a Southern Section Division I-A second-round playoff game.
The showdown marks the first time since 1988 these traditional Ventura County powers have met.
Kelly Greathouse, Nicole’s younger sister, is a sophomore forward for Buena (23-3), and Teresa Cooper, Tawnee’s little sister, is a freshman guard for Simi Valley (21-6).
“Simi is going to kick Buena’s butt,” said Tawnee Cooper, The Times’ 1996 county player of the year. “Nicole and I may be tight, but not in this case. She will be on one side of the court and I’ll be on the other.”
Nicole Greathouse, the 1997 county player of the year, couldn’t disagree more with her teammate’s prediction.
“I told her that I was sorry, that [Buena] is going to kill those guys,” she said. “She wouldn’t want to bet against me.”
There has been little argument over the important role the pair has played for Santa Barbara (21-3), ranked No. 20 in the nation.
Greathouse, a 6-foot-2 sophomore forward, scored a season-high 17 points last week in an 84-60 victory over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, the Gauchos’ 16th victory in a row. She is averaging 7.4 points and 7.1 rebounds.
Before she fractured her left tibia and partially tore her anterior cruciate ligament earlier this month against Long Beach State, Cooper, a 5-9 junior guard, was among the shooting percentage leaders in the Big West Conference (49.7%) and was averaging 12.3 points.
The younger sisters are no strangers, either.
They both played in the Ventura Stars summer program and frequently attend their older sisters’ games.
“It’s kind of weird, with our sisters up there playing with each other and us down here playing against each other,” said Teresa Cooper, who is averaging 7.1 points and 3.5 rebounds. “There might be [trash] talk going on up there, but not down here.”
Kelly Greathouse, an all-county selection by The Times as a freshman, is averaging 14.8 points and 10.4 rebounds.
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If Buena looks into the future, it will see a nasty part of the past.
If the Bulldogs defeat Simi Valley, they probably will play Huntington Beach Marina in a quarterfinal game on Saturday.
Marina destroyed the Bulldogs, 60-39, in a I-A semifinal last season, denying Buena its ninth consecutive appearance in a section championship game.
“I hope it is [an inspiration] for our kids, but you never know what’s going through their minds,” Buena Coach Joe Vaughan said. “We’ve got to get by Simi Valley first. They’re a good club.”
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Ventura is not so much trying to stop a team as it is trying to stop a player, Diana Taurasi.
Considered the top junior in the nation by several publications, Taurasi is averaging 28 points and 13 rebounds for Chino Don Lugo (26-3), seeded No. 2 in the I-A playoffs.
Ventura (19-10) has played plenty of quality teams this season--including nationally ranked San Jose Archbishop Mitty and Brea Olinda--but has seen few players of Taurasi’s talent.
“There were referees at the Ayala tournament who were staying two or three games after they [worked] to see her play,” Ventura Coach Glenn Gray II said.
The Cougars, who this season have played only six home games and 23 on the road or at neutral sites, host Don Lugo tonight.
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All-City guard Tashean Thomas of North Hollywood, who sprained her left ankle last week in a City Championship first-round game, was cleared by a doctor to play against El Camino Real tonight in the quarterfinals.
“She’s a great player at 100%,” Husky Coach Rich Allen said. “We’re hoping she’ll be a very good player at 50%.”
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Alemany, which faces Pomona Ganesha on Saturday in a III-AA semifinal at L.A. Baptist, is attempting to advance to a section final for the seventh time in eight seasons.
The Indians (20-7), who routed South Pasadena in the quarterfinals to secure their 10th consecutive 20-victory season, lost to Perris in the II-AA quarterfinals in 1996.
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Junior L’Tanya Robnett of Harvard-Westlake is attempting to advance to a section final for the third consecutive season.
As a freshman in 1996-97, she was a starter for Palmdale, which lost to Peninsula in the I-AA final.
Last season, she played the wing for Harvard-Westlake, which defeated Morningside for the III-A championship.
Top-seeded Harvard-Westlake (25-4) will play Santa Ynez on Saturday at Notre Dame in a III-A semifinal.
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Village Christian didn’t have to look hard for the lowdown on defending Division IV state champion St. Bernard, its quarterfinal opponent tonight.
In the first round, St. Bernard defeated Frazier Mountain, coached by former Village Christian Coach John Domke.
“I got a very solid scouting report,” said Village Christian Coach Fred Largent, who served as an assistant to Domke.
Correspondents Mike Bresnahan and Dave Desmond contributed to this notebook.