Peterson, Pearson Commit to Attend Stanford, UCLA

Mater Dei’s Melody Peterson and Woodbridge’s Melanie Pearson, two of Orange County’s best girls’ basketball players, have orally committed to Pacific 10 universities.

Peterson, last year’s Times player of the year, said Tuesday she will attend Stanford. Pearson, a Times first-team selection, will go to UCLA.

Peterson, a 5-9 guard, helped Mater Dei reach the State Division I championship game, which it lost to Atherton Sacred Heart. She averaged 23.6 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists.

She picked Stanford, the 1990 and 1992 national champion, over Michigan, UCLA, USC and Arizona.

“I want to go into law and it’s one of the top law schools in the nation, and they have a great basketball program to go with it,” Peterson said.

“The only thing that discouraged me from the other schools was that most of them talked about me playing a [shooting] guard; I’m more of a [point guard].”

Pearson, a 6-1 forward, led Woodbridge to the 1995 State Division III title. She committed to UCLA Saturday, during her first official visit.

Pearson averaged 11.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists; she also shot 51% from the floor. At UCLA, she will join former Woodbridge teammate Jamie Oenning, who is also her best friend.

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San Clemente’s Trevor Insley, who leads the county with 31 catches and 566 yards, had surgery on his broken left hand Tuesday.

Insley, a senior, broke three metacarpal bones when tackled after returning a punt in Friday’s 38-15 victory over Foothill.

Insley said he expects to miss the next two games, but at least play defense--he’s a cornerback--in the Oct. 20 game against Capistrano Valley.

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Sal Anaya has been appointed boys’ soccer coach and Huy Pham boys’ tennis coach at Orange High, Athletic Director Dave Zirkle said.

Both are graduates of Orange. Anaya, who plays soccer at Chapman University, has been the varsity assistant soccer coach at Orange for three years. He replaces Ed Carrillo, now at Trabuco Hills.

Pham was the No. 1 singles player for Orange from 1989-1992. He intends to graduate from Cal Poly Pomona, where he has been playing tennis, in December. Pham replaces Kevin Martin, who is at Villa Park.

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UCLA’s Keri Phebus and Jennifer Brundage have been selected Honda Sports Award winners in tennis and softball. Phebus, the NCAA singles and doubles champion, went to Corona del Mar High and Brundage to Irvine High. The awards are given annually for each of the 11 NCAA women’s sports.