Seven Appears to Be Enough for No. 4 Irvine

When the Irvine girls’ basketball team is playing, it has more coaches on its bench than it does players on the floor. But ask Coach Dennis Hurley about having only seven players on the varsity team, and he replies, “but it’s the right seven.”

Irvine, 15-4 overall, is No. 4 in the the Orange County Sportswriters’ rankings. Tonight, the Vaqueros play Sea View League rival Woodbridge, which is ranked sixth and is 19-0.

They shared the league title last season.

Woodbridge’s strength, aside from top scorers Lara Gray and Kelsi Sousa, is its depth.

That’s not the case with Irvine. It used only five players in its victory over then-No. 1 Troy in December at the Orange County Championship.

“I did everything I could to get players out, but volleyball dominates,” Hurley said, adding that the impact is felt both on and off the court. “You can’t fund raise. You can’t do anything with that [few] kids.”

Except win.

Guards Staci Morita and Nikki Kamada and forwards Ali Grechko, Jodi Carlson and Kristin Thawley have created the kind of matchup problems that give opponents fits. Grechko is 5 feet 10, Carlson and junior Thawley are 6-0.

Among the starters, Kamada is the only one who hasn’t scored at least 20 points in a game, but even she has scored 15.

“What amazes me about our team is that it’s tough to prepare for us,” Hurley said. “The kids are real unselfish.”

And nobody can complain about playing time.

“We don’t need 10 kids,” Hurley said. “We are what we are.”

They are seven players among the 19 in the entire program, the result of Northwood opening last school year.

“Northwood took 60% of our lower levels,” said Joni Colburn, a co-coach along with Hurley. “There’s really not anyone from the lower levels we would consider bringing up just for a body. It would hurt us more than help us.”

The Vaqueros are making the numbers work like one small happy family. “We made our kids depend on each other, take care of each other more,” Colburn said.

Junior Kattie O’Hara is the backup post player, and senior Lindsay Coleman is the backup guard.

“The hardest part is practice,” Colburn said. “You can do the individual skills, but not the team concepts. Because the kids play the whole game, they get tired, so they have to step up mentally and physically down the stretch. We can’t give them the rest they need.”

So far, the players have answered the challenge. They rarely get in foul trouble, there’s judicious use of timeouts, and the Vaqueros make the shots they’re suppose to make.

All five starters shoot better than 70% from the free-throw line, and the team is shooting 45.8% from the field, with Grechko (52.3%) and Thawley (52.25) leading the way. Morita is shooting 41% from the three-point line.

“Our mind set as coaches was to make them believe that they were worthy to win,” Hurley said. “These seven have put Irvine on the map.”

THE DOW JONZ

Whose stock is up or down this week.

* San Clemente. Down. One week after taking over the No. 1 spot in the Southern Section poll and positioning itself to be top-seeded in the Division I-AA playoffs, the Tritons lost a 10-point fourth-quarter lead to the No. 6 team, Riverside North.

* Villa Park. Up. Seized control of the Century League with victories over Santa Ana Valley and defending champion Foothill behind center Lauren Yadon and guard Kelly Shimizu.

LOOKING AHEAD

Edison has a big week, playing at No. 1 Esperanza tonight and hosting No. 9 Huntington Beach on Thursday.

If you have an item or idea for the girls’ basketball report, you can fax us at (714)966-5663 or e-mail us at martin.henderson@latimes.com

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GIRLS’ BASKETBALL TOP 10

Orange County Sportswriters’ Poll

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Pos. School (League) Rec 1. Esperanza (Sunset) 16-4 2. Brea Olinda (Orange) 14-4 3. San Clemente (South Coast) 17-3 4. Irvine (Sea View) 15-4 5. Troy (Freeway) 16-4 6. Woodbridge (Sea View) 19-0 7. Edison (Sunset) 16-4 8. Santa Margarita (Serra) 16-5 9. Huntington Beach (Sunset) 10-9 10. Rosary (Serra) 17-6

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Others: El Dorado (16-4), Laguna Hills (14-8), Villa Park (12-8), Westminster (14-5)

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The Times’ boys’ and girls’ basketball statistical leaders are provided by their teams. Coaches and statisticians must report for their teams after their last game of each week and before 10 a.m. on Mondays.

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