Nearing Full Bloom

Taylor Lilley has made more than half of her three-point shots this season for Newhall Hart High and is poised to take her place as the best long-distance shooter in state history.

Five days a week, she finds time outside of team practices to make 300 three-point baskets in her seemingly endless quest to conquer 19 feet 9 inches.

Fighting through the arm-weariness that comes from shot after shot after shot, her clear-minded focus through the endless repetition has yielded a sweet motion that carries the ball from her waist to the bottom of a net.

“It takes a lot of practice and hard work, a lot of time,” said Lilley, who used to shoot until she made 500 baskets a day, then cut back to 300 the last two seasons. “All the years I’ve been playing basketball, all the time I’ve put into it, it’s now paying off in games.”

Paying off at a record pace. The Oregon-bound senior has made 100 of 194 three-point attempts this season for a remarkable 51.5% success rate.

According to Cal-Hi Sports, Monica Filer of San Diego Point Loma shot a state-best 50% in 1989, the second year of the three-point shot, but she made 38 of only 76 attempts.

For sheer volume, no one has come close to matching Lilley’s proficiency. She is better from beyond the three-point arc than from inside it, where she has made 87 of 174 field-goal attempts (50%).

Only three girls in high school history have shot better during a season, and none attempted as many shots.

Hart Coach Dave Munroe calls his 5-foot-6 guard “the purest shooter” he has coached in 32 seasons, which includes 15 coaching boys at Hart and Encino Crespi.

Comparably, the state record book lists only two boys who have shot better than 50% for a season, and neither had more than 134 attempts.

After transferring from Saugus, Lilley shot 44.9% from three-point territory as a sophomore, making a then-school record 70 of 184.

“She’s gone way beyond what she was as a freshman, when her range was the line,” said Eric Olsson, her coach at Saugus. “Now she’s out to 24 feet, and girls just aren’t used to guarding you out there. She’s got a quick release. That’s what makes her so hard to guard.”

Lilley’s touch has been honed the last six years under the tutelage of her personal coach, Bryan Finley, a former professional player in the ABA and Europe.

“This girl could not shoot the basketball,” Finley said of meeting a giggling, unassuming seventh-grader. “The best thing her mom could tell me was she’s pretty good on defense. But she was a sponge. I told her, ‘Make 300 to 500 shots every day, but you have to do it on your own. I can’t shag 500 shots for you.’ ”

Perpetually upbeat and spurning Friday night invitations because she was practicing her shooting, Lilley’s commitment took her from her family’s driveway to the dirty blacktop at Saugus High to wherever there was an open basket. She might find somebody to make 150 shots with, then another to make 150 more, usually 10 at a time from five spots on the floor.

Her shooting ability helped forge her identity and shake free from the shadow of Ashlee Trebilcock, a second-team Parade All-American and Hart’s star attraction the last four seasons.

“I felt like her sidekick,” Lilley said. “I wasn’t going to be like, ‘Oh, it’s Ashlee’s team.’ I still stepped up. I think it worked out perfectly. But people were starting to ignore the fact of who I was.

“The player I am now, I was that player a couple of years ago. But Ashlee was the best player back then, so she’s going to get all the credit, you know?”

Maybe Lilley was so comfortable in a complementary role because of what happened only days after she turned 13. Her father, Robert Lilley, died unexpectedly, a week after heart bypass surgery. Taylor, the younger of two daughters, insisted on practicing that night with her team, playing the next day’s game, and doing both without telling anyone about her father.

“She didn’t want anybody else feeling sorry for her,” said Taylor’s mother, Deborah Lilley. “I don’t know if part of it was losing her dad and realizing how precious life is, but she’ll look for the positive in everything.

“She truly loves basketball and does it for herself.”

Lilley has to love this season. Hart (24-4) is the fourth-seeded team in the Southern Section Division I-A playoffs, and with its home quarterfinal Saturday against Perris has advanced further than it did last season, when Trebilcock was a senior.

Lilley is averaging 18.6 points, 3.5 steals and 2.8 assists. She is also carrying a 3.83 grade-point average. Over her career, she has made 256 of 580 three-point attempts (44.1%). She should eclipse state record-holder Carol Pajarillo of San Diego Rancho Bernardo, who shot 41.6% over the 1990-91 seasons but took only 101 three-point shots.

Among players with 400 career attempts, the National High School Record Book lists only one girl who has bettered Lilley’s 43.9%. Jenny Bridge of Alexandria (S.D.) Hanson shot 49.7% (266 of 535) from 2000 to 2003. It lists only four boys with percentages better than Lilley’s.

“She’s a zone-buster,” said Munroe, explaining why he thinks Lilley will be a success in college. “She’s hit some threes this year at least eight feet behind the line. That’s where she can really help people, spread the defense.”

With six three-pointers in a victory over Walnut on Wednesday, Lilley passed Lynette Jacobs of San Bernardino Cajon for the most in the Southern Section. Jacobs is shooting 32.9% from beyond the arc (99 of 301).

“I’m feeling confident now, and that has a lot to do with it,” Lilley said. “I’m not afraid to shoot it.”

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Sharpshooter

Taylor Lilley of Newhall Hart will probably end her career as the state’s most accurate three-point shooter. A look at her numbers:

*--* SEASON G FGA FGM 3FGA 3FGM 3FG% FTA FTM Pts Avg 2002-03 30 268 147 92 37 402 61 38 369 12.3 2003-04 32 362 184 156 70 449 42 34 472 14.8 2004-05 26 302 128 138 49 355 29 19 324 11.6 2005-06 28 368 187 194 100 515 61 47 521 18.6 Totals 116 1,300 646 580 256 441 193 138 1,686 14.5

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