Triplett Goes After Her Triple

When Wendy Triplett took over as girls’ basketball coach at Marshall High in the fall of 1988, the Barristers had never won a City title in the sport.

It did not take long for Triplett to change that, however, as she led the Barristers to an 18-2 record and a City 3-A Division championship her first season. Triplett followed with another trip to the championship the next season, as she coached the team to its second consecutive City title last year.

Now in her third season, Triplett no longer has opponents looking past Marshall because the Barristers are the team to beat. After 12 games this season, Marshall has only lost twice despite having to replace three starters from last season’s team.

“I think that our chances to repeat are excellent,” said Triplett, who has a 52-7 career record. “I told the kids that anyone can beat us, but if we play like we can, we’ll get back to the Sports Arena.”

Tara Walker, a 5-foot-11 center, and Maria Fulay, a sophomore point guard, lead the team in scoring. Walker, who played a key role last year, also leads the team in rebounds.

Already this season, Marshall has defeated University in a rematch of last season’s 3-A Division title game.

Winning may come easy for Marshall, but it was not that way when Triplett first took over as coach.

Triplett, 29, was the school’s track and volleyball coach when she replaced Beth Ercek as basketball coach. Ercek stepped down only weeks before the 1988-89 season.

“Marshall had a lot of talent already there my first year,” said Triplett, who played volleyball at Cal State Los Angles. “I learned basically everything that they were doing at first. I knew the transition had to be slow, so I gradually put in changes. It was mentally pretty difficult.”

Triplett began her coaching career in 1985, when she became Marshall’s track coach, a position she held until last season. In 1986, she took over the Barristers’ volleyball program.

“When I first started coaching, I wasn’t extremely successful,” said Triplett, a four-sport athlete in high school. “I had to go out to the lunch area and recruit kids for the track team. Traditionally, track was not popular at Marshall and the kids who came out were usually only interested in losing weight.”

Marshall’s track program gained respectability soon after Triplett became coach, but when she took over the school’s volleyball program the next year, it was a different matter.

“They have always had a successful volleyball program here but they had never won a City title,” said Triplett, who coached Marshall into the City semifinals in 1989 before winning the City 3-A Division title last fall.

“Even though we won the City title, last season’s volleyball season was a real tough one,” she said. “Halfway through the season, I had to turn the team in when I found out that one girl was lying about her residency. She lied in order to play volleyball here and we had to forfeit five games.”

Despite the forfeits, Marshall qualified for the playoffs and dominated its opening-round pool play. The Barristers went on to defeat Sylmar in the final.

“I’m a real stickler for rules and the fact that we won knowing that we played by the rules, makes it that more terrific,” said Triplett, whose Barristers finished 15-4. “It taught the girls a great lesson to be honest.”

Triplett’s involvement in athletics can be traced to her parents and Carol Dunn, her high school volleyball and basketball coach in Maryland.

“When I was in high school, I would consider myself an above average athlete whose greatest strength was her competitiveness,” Triplett said. “My father was a great supporter in women’s sports and he never missed a volleyball or basketball game of mine.”

However, it was Dunn--now athletic director at Cal State L.A.--who brought Triplett to Southern California when she became volleyball coach at Cal State L.A. “Dunn was my female role model in sports,” Triplett said. “She gave me a good base in sports and taught me a whole lot . . . especially in basketball.”

Triplett’s winning ways have made the acceptance of girls’ athletics easier at Marshall.

“In the beginning there was that battle for equality for facilities,” she said. “Now, we have equality. I feel that I’ve influenced some people here, but we’ve always had super support from everyone.”

Last week, Tracy Titus of Anaheim Loara scored 61 points to set an Orange County scoring record in the Saxons’ 78-50 win over Los Alamitos. She joins schoolmate Tes Whitlock, who scored 68 points in a game earlier this season for the boys team, as a county record holder.

With Whitlock watching from the stands, Titus scored 15 points in the first quarter, 10 in the second, 17 in the third and 19 in the fourth. She scored Loara’s final 30 points of the game.

Titus, a 6-2 senior, made 28 of 43 field goal attempts and five of eight free throws. She added 19 rebounds, five steals and blocked three shots.

“If I would have scored more points than Tes, I don’t know what he would have done,” Titus said.

Jim Smiddy, the girls’ basketball coach at Cleveland (Tenn.) Bradley Central High, became the winningest coach in high school basketball last Friday with his 1,153rd victory.

Bradley Central defeated Rhea County, 60-58, to give Smiddy the record.

Smiddy, 66, moved ahead of Bertha Teague, whose girls’ teams compiled a 1,152-115 record at Byng High in Ada, Okla., during 42 seasons (1928-70).

Prep Notes

Gary Meek of Esperanza and Dick Barrett of Lompoc have been named co-coaches for the South team in the 40th annual Shrine all-star football game, which will be held July 27 at the Rose Bowl . . . The Times will resume its girls’ basketball ratings next Tuesday.

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL TIMES’ BASKETBALL POLLS Games through Jan. 6 BOYS City

No., School, League, Division Record 1. Fremont, Central, 3-A 17-1 2. Crenshaw, Southern, 4-A 11-3 3. Washington, Southern, 4-A 12-2 4. Manual Arts, Metro, 4-A 11-3 5. Fairfax, Metro, 4-A 10-4 6. Granada Hills, North Valley, 4-A 12-2 7. San Pedro, Pacific, 4-A 14-2 8. Reseda Cleveland, North Valley, 4-A 10-5 9. Westchester, Metro, 4-A 11-5 10. Venice, Western, 3-A 10-6

Southern Section

No., School, League, Division Record 1. San Bernardino, San Andreas, 1-A 16-0 2. Artesia, Suburban, 2-A 11-2 3. Long Beach Poly, Moore, 1-AA 13-3 4. Mater Dei, Angelus, 1-A 15-4 5. Millikan, Moore, 1-AA 12-2 6. Capistrano Valley, South Coast, 1-A 13-2 7. Tustin, Sea View, 2-AA 13-2 8. San Marcos, Channel, 2-A 10-2 9. Morningside, Ocean, 1-AA 13-2 10. Santa Barbara, Channel, 1-A 11-3 11. Lynwood, San Gabriel Valley, 1-AA 10-3 12. Glendora, Baseline, 2-AA 13-1 13. Cajon, San Andreas, 1-A 12-3 14. Santa Clara, Frontier, 2-AA 13-4 15. Riverside North, Ivy, 2-AA 9-2