Prep basketball: All-Star basketball games include Mesa trio

Barry Faulkner

COSTA MESA - The 36th Orange County All-Star Basketball boys game,

as well as the 24th edition of the girls showcase, will have a distinct

Costa Mesa flavor tonight at Orange Coast College.

Mustangs Coach Bob Serven will lead the South boys squad, which

includes Mesa sharpshooting guard Steve Whittaker, against the top

seniors from the North, while Mesa senior point guard Nancy Hatsushi is

slated to start for the South girls team.

The girls game tips off at 5 p.m., with the boys game scheduled for 8

p.m. Tickets, good for both games, are $10 for adults and $6 for students

under 18.

Hatsushi, who shared Newport-Mesa District Player of the Year laurels

this season, also capped her four-year varsity career by being named

second-team All-CIF Southern Section Division III.

The 5-foot-4 standout averaged 13.7 points, 7.3 assists, 4.1 steals

and 3.6 rebounds for Coach Jim Weeks’ Mustangs this season, while

committing a mere 42 turnovers.

Her passing skills and unselfishness, as well as her ability to score

and energetic defense, have impressed Rebels Coach Nicole Quinn (Santa

Ana Valley). They have also helped endear Hatsushi to her teammates.

“I love her,” Quinn said of the Mesa captain, who scored 1,008 points

in four seasons and was all-district and all-league three times. “She

pushes the ball very well, which is the style I like my teams to play and

she has had practices where she hasn’t missed a three-point shot.

“She loves to pass and she seems to enjoy making other people look

good. She’s good at setting things up for us. Sometimes it’s the first

pass she makes, but there are times when you don’t see what she’s done

until the second or third pass.”

Quinn said Hatsushi fills a need for a backcourt presence for the

South, which is loaded with frontcourt players.

“She’s very quick and very smart, but she is also very strong for her

size. We ran some drills that promote aggressiveness and she matched up

with a couple 6-2 players one time. And she just battled with them. She’s

one of those girls who smiles all the time when she’s off the court, but

she’s a different person on the court. And the change is instant.”

The 6-0 Whittaker, who netted 80 three-pointers while leading Mesa to

a share of its first league championship in its 41-season history, could

provide instant offense for the Rebels.

Whittaker, who shot nearly 35% from behind the arc, tied the

Newport-Mesa District single-game record with nine threes in a tournament

game last season. He averaged 12.3 points and 5.6 rebounds, en route to

first-team All-PCL and all-district laurels.

“Steve has done very well in practice,” Serven reports. “He’s hit some

three-pointers in our scrimmages against community college teams and he

has played real solid basketball.”

Serven, who has coached in this game before as an assistant to Santa

Margarita Coach Jerry DeBusk, will have DeBusk, as well as former

Foothill coach Jim Reames, now a Santa Margarita assistant, on the South

bench with him.

“Those are two of my mentors, so it’s great to have them involved,”

said Serven, the Newport-Mesa District Coach of the Year who plans to

alter his intense sideline style tonight.

“It’s a less stressful environment (than the regular season) and I’m

looking at it as a reward for having a pretty good season,” Serven said.

“Believe me, I’m going to enjoy it. I won’t take too much time to put

together a game plan. The main thing I want to do is make sure all my

players get playing time. Then, if it gets down to the end and we’re

close, we’ll play the guys who are most competitive.”

The South boys roster includes UCI-bound Jeff Gloger (Capistrano

Valley) and Ocean View’s Torin Beeler, who will play collegiately at

Liberty University.

Other South standouts figure to include El Toro’s Ashkan Nazeri, Sea

View League MVP Danny Lambert, Santa Margarita’s R.J. Socci, and Pacific

Coast League MVP Jason Garey (University).

The South leads the boys series, 21-14.

The South girls, whose original 12-player roster has been pared to 10,

are expected to be led by Foothill star Kristen Mann.

The North girls figure to be keyed by Troy standout Veronica

Johns-Richardson.

The South has won 16 of 23 girls games, including the last eight.