It’s No Guesswork for Cameron

Brynn Cameron, the Newbury Park girls’ basketball scoring standout, actually second-guessed her skills at the beginning of her junior year.

“I was debating the whole college thing,” she said. “Am I even good enough?”

Anyone watching the USC-bound senior the last few weeks could answer that question in the split-second it takes Cameron to release a shot.

Despite being only 80% healed after severely spraining her ankle Dec. 13 -- doctors said she would have been better off if she had broken it -- Cameron has been on a late-season tear, scoring almost at will and carrying Newbury Park to the Marmonte League championship and into the Southern Section playoffs.

“She reminds me of a real talented boy who plays quarterback and free safety and can control the game on both offense and defense,” said Coach Rich Schaaf before his Santa Margarita team played host to Newbury Park on Wednesday night. “I don’t think she gets enough credit for her defense. She’s the real deal.”

And the real deal scored 15 points to help deliver a 56-43 upset of second-seeded Santa Margarita (23-7) in a Division III-AA quarterfinal.

Newbury Park advances to play Pomona Diamond Ranch, a 52-47 winner over Huntington Beach Ocean View, in a semifinal Saturday.

It has been a trying season for Cameron and Newbury Park (16-7), which went unranked by the Southern Section until the final poll but probably could have been seeded as high as third in the playoffs.

The Panthers had only two practices with their full team before the season began because nine players, including Cameron, played on the volleyball team.

Cameron suffered her injury in the fourth game, then sat out four games and was hobbled for many more as Newbury Park got off to a 4-5 start.

Despite that, she persevered.

Cameron, a 6-foot guard, averaged 25 points, 8.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists, and was among 24 players selected to the Adidas All-Star game March 24 at Nashville.

The school’s all-time leading scorer, she averaged 14 points as a freshman, 18 as a sophomore and 20 as a junior.

She scored 30 points against Simi Valley Royal in the Marmonte League championship that avenged a 24-point loss 16 days earlier, and 27 points in a 68-64 overtime loss to eighth-ranked Ventura.

When Cameron injured her ankle in the championship game of the Ventura Buena tournament in December, she had scored 16 points in the first half against Ventura and her team had a six-point halftime lead before losing, 60-44.

“When I sprained my ankle, I was disappointed about that,” Cameron said. “The last two weeks have made up for all that. It’s been a fun season.”

Several times Cameron has been close to the school’s record of 35 points in a game, set by Marlo Cormier in 1989. But whenever she found out she was getting close, she would stop shooting and pass the ball to teammates.

“I don’t want to be selfish,” she said, “I wanted it to come natural, not me forcing it.”

However, in an 81-35 victory over Monrovia on Saturday, her father and assistant coach, Stan Cameron, made a plea at the beginning of the fourth quarter. He knew Brynn’s penchant for shutting it down as the record neared.

“I said, ‘Brynn, look, this is your last home game, your grandma and grandpa are here, and you have 30,’ ” Stan recalled. “She said, ‘OK.’ ”

Cameron reeled off 10 points in 39 seconds -- including two three-point baskets -- and promptly took herself out of the game with 40 points.

“She’s not overly quick or fancy, but she can play,” her father said. “And that’s not debatable. Not even by her.”