Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week, Nancy Hatsushi: Finding her voice

Barry Faulkner

If Nancy Hatsushi didn’t have an alter ego, she wouldn’t have any

ego at all.

But the Costa Mesa High girls basketball team is thankful its demure

junior point guard has learned how to transform into a commanding leader

when she steps on the floor.

“She is the leader of this team,” Mesa Coach Jim Weeks said of the

5-foot-4, 120-pound three-year varsity veteran, who has done plenty to

bolster her confidence after a tentative freshman year.

Hatsushi was second-team All-CIF Southern Section Division III last

season, when she helped the Mustangs to the III-A semifinals.

This season (through Tuesday), she is averaging 10.8 points and seven

assists, after averaging 8.3 points and 7.2 assists as a sophomore.

“When Nancy speaks, we listen,” said Weeks, who has called Hatsushi the

best point guard in school history.

“The other day, one of our players nearly had an altercation with a

player from another school. Nancy went over there, picked her up and

pulled (her teammate) aside, as if to say ‘Stop this!’ This is truly

Nancy’s team.”

Hatsushi, who shares the spotlight with All-CIF senior teammates Autumn

Smith and Jenny Earnest, amassed 43 points and 25 assists in three

victories to conclude the Artesia Tournament last week. For her efforts,

she is the Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week.

Unlike her court sense and athleticism, asserting herself on the floor

never came naturally for Hatsushi. Shyness, in fact, nearly forced her to

give up the game well before reaching high school.

“I went to one practice in the fourth grade and I hated it,” Hatsushi

recalled. “I’m really shy and I didn’t know anyone. I just didn’t feel

comfortable, so I quit.”

Prompted by her mother, Hatsushi eventually gave basketball another try,

this time on her junior high team. Playing with teammates she had grown

up with, she was able to dribble past her insecurities and wound up on

the Mesa varsity as a nervous ninth-grader.

“I wasn’t very comfortable my freshman year, either,” Hatsushi said. “I

was the baby of the team and I looked up to everyone else.”

Hatsushi ran the show last season, but still had trouble assuming the

traditional leadership role. But, this year, her alter ego allows her to

take control of a game by means other than her physical gifts.

“We have a strong team this year and I came in trying to step it up and

take over as a leader,” Hatsushi said. “I’m known to be the quiet one,

but I’m tryng to do my best.”

Hatsushi is at her best distributing the ball to others. But she has

improved her outside shooting and continues to contribute as a defensive

ball hawk.

“Experience is a plus for her, but she has the type of vision and

instincts that some girls who play a lot of basketball never develop,”

Weeks said. “She’s more consistent with her shooting this year and when

it comes to the last two minutes of a game, she’s like ice water. When

the ball is in her hands, she doesn’t give it up. And when she goes to

the foul line, she has unbelievable inner concentration.”

After a 3-4 start, the Mustangs had won five straight heading into the

semifinals of their own Winter Classic Wednesday. And Hatsushi said she

is concentrating on helping the Mustangs better last year’s semifinal

showing.

“We do have confidence as a team and I think we can do really well (in

the playoffs),” she said.

Spoken like a true leader.