THE PREPS / ERIC SHEPARD : Beverly Hills Learns a Tough Lesson

It wasn’t the most lopsided high school girls’ basketball game ever played in California, but Inglewood Morningside’s 120-3 victory over Beverly Hills on Jan. 5 was one of the more memorable.

For days after the game, radio, television and newspaper reporters showed up at Beverly Hills, trying to find out how such a thing could happen.

Coach Tere Curl heard the questions over and over and decided she wanted no more. Her players had suffered enough, she decided, and there was no point in further humiliating them. Practices were closed and reporters were asked to leave the campus. Players were instructed not to comment.

“These are kids and part of my job is to protect them,” said Curl, who is in her second season at the school. “These are a bunch of hard-working girls, and tearing them down doesn’t do any good.”

Morningside used a full-court press to hold Beverly Hills to a field goal in the first half and a free throw in the second.

Monarch Coach Ron Tatum said he didn’t intend to run up the score, but Curl wasn’t buying that.

“When teenagers’ self-esteem is involved, I think running the score up like that is highly unethical,” Curl said. “I hated to see that done to my kids.”

Curl, 37, has never been involved in such a big loss and admitted she was a bit overwhelmed. She has been playing basketball since she was 10 and has usually won.

Curl played on two state basketball championship teams at tiny Deer Creek Lamont High in Oklahoma. Then at Northern Oklahoma Junior College, she was part of a national championship team and was an All-American guard.

After graduating from Phillips College in Arkansas, Curl led Ponca City to the 1984 Oklahoma state title and was voted coach of the year.

When the pressure became too heavy, Curl took a break. From 1989 to ‘93, she taught and coached boys’ and girls’ tennis at Barstow High. She switched to Beverly Hills last season, after seeing an advertisement for a girls’ basketball coach in a newspaper.

“They hired me to build the program up from the bottom,” Curl said. “They haven’t won many games here, so I’ve had to start with the basic fundamentals. This is the first year the school has ever had a freshman team.”

Curl is also trying to instill discipline. Missed practices mean missed games. Three starters missed a practice during the Christmas break and didn’t play against Morningside. They also sat out a game against Redondo earlier that week, and Beverly Hills lost, 76-4.

The losses were difficult on the players, who have been teased at school.

“We’re just trying to do the best we can and avoid any negatives,” said Lisa Dabby, a player and the school’s student-body president.

In Curl’s first season at Beverly Hills, the Normans finished second in the Southern Section’s Ocean League and qualified for the playoffs for the first time in 13 years. Forward Sasha Spalding received numerous accolades and accepted an athletic scholarship to Fresno State.

Things have been different this season. Beverly Hills didn’t pick up its first victory until last Friday, beating Compton Centennial, and is 1-10.

“I’m realistic and I know it’s going to take time to build a winner,” Curl said. “But I can see the attitude changes. They’ve already learned more about dealing with adversity than any victory could teach them.”