Former Girls Basketball Star Dies

Monique Mathews, an 18-year-old former girls basketball standout with a troubled past, died July 10 in Long Beach of causes yet to be determined, Capistrano Valley High Athletic Director Tom Ressler said Monday.

Mathews, of Aliso Viejo, attended three high schools in four years before dropping out of Capistrano Valley High in 1998, just a few weeks after basketball season ended. She cited the need to be with her ailing father in Georgia as her reason for leaving school.

“We lost touch with her after she left school,” said Ressler, also an assistant girls basketball coach at Capistrano Valley. “We really tried to get her to go to college and play, because there were several schools interested in her, but she told us that ‘I just don’t want to do this anymore.’ ”

Mathews attended Costa Mesa High for two years and University High in Irvine for a year before transferring to Capistrano Valley. It was said that a reputation for having a poor attitude played a role in the transfers.

“I guess I do have the attitude, but only when one is given to me,” Mathews said during an interview at the time. “I’m a very respectful person. I respect my elders. I will respect you if you respect me, but if you don’t, I won’t respect you at all.”

A 5-foot-10 forward, Mathews averaged 17.2 points and 13.5 rebounds her senior year in 1997-98. She was co-most valuable player of the South Coast League and earned All-Orange County honors from The Times that year.

Funeral services will take place Wednesday at McCormick and Son Mortuary in Laguna Hills.

Times staff writer Paul McLeod contributed to this story.