The Times’ girls’ basketball coach of the year: Adam Levine

Palisades girls’ basketball was the standard of excellence in the City Section until Torino Johnson left to pursue college coaching three years ago. Then came a rare losing season. Enter Adam Levine, a new coach from Santa Monica Crossroads.

Last season the Dolphins won the City Division I title. This season they won the City Open Division title and Southern California Division II regional title. Levine helped bring out the best in Pepperdine-bound Jane Nwaba, an athletic, all-around player who led the Dolphins to a 26-9 record.

“He did a really good job of creating a winning atmosphere to be able to create the buy-in needed for an athlete the caliber of Nwaba to continue to build upon her skill set while bringing the rest of the team together,” said Johnson, now women’s coach at Cal State Los Angeles.

Levine has been selected The Times’ girls’ basketball coach of the year.

“We were hungry,” Levine said of a veteran team that worked hard in practice and learned well from watching film.