Women’s basketball preview: Going deep

Steve Virgen

COSTA MESA - With the Orange Coast College women’s basketball team

enduring a down season last year, Pirates Coach Mike Thornton plans to go

deep to revive his program, which won 27 games in 1999-00, but dropped to

16 last year.

OCC went 6-8 in the Orange Empire Conference last season, its worst

record since the 1996-97 team finished 5-5.

Last year’s demise? A lack of depth and team chemistry. Enter the

2001-02 squad, which features 13 new faces, two returners and a transfer.

The obvious challenge remains.

The Pirates must find team chemistry, but at least there is depth.

“We have more depth than we’ve had in a long time,” said Thornton, who

enters his 12th year as OCC’s coach. “I’ll feel comfortable playing 12

players (in the substitution rotation). In the past it has been seven or

10. If we stay healthy, our depth will be our biggest advantage. We’ll be

able to play up-tempo and pressure defense the entire game.”

The Pirates’ depth is displayed at point guard, where Nancy Hatsushi,

a Costa Mesa High product, will lead the rotation. Hatsushi, a 5-foot-5

freshman, is OCC’s purest point guard, but the various backcourt lineups

will be dictated by matchups, Thornton said.

“We’re solid at point guard,” he said. “We have three gals who can

play it. (Hatsushi) has stepped to the front because she is a true point

guard, handles the ball and shoots well from the perimeter. She has

earned a starting position. She’s probably as set as anyone.”

When the Pirates want to go with a big lineup, Thornton will insert

5-9 freshman Ashley Nelson as the point guard.

The guards, among their many roles, will try to feed the ball into 6-0

freshman center Lauren Murray. Thornton said Murray has been improving

and he believes she will develop into a four-year prospect.

Murray is nursing an ankle injury, but Thornton said she might see

some time Friday at 5 p.m., when the Pirates open their season against

Butte College in the Chaffey Tournament, which continues through Sunday.

Lindsey Galasso, a 5-4 freshman from El Modena, will also figure in as

a point guard. When the team goes small, Hatsushi will play the point and

Galasso will be the off guard. Galasso played against Hatsushi a few

times in high school.

Shooting guard Leigh Marshall is also familiar with Hatsushi. The two

were backcourt mates at Costa Mesa last year.

“She has been a real surprise,” Thornton said of Marshall, a

long-range shooter. “She has a banged-up knee and is out for three weeks

so she has to work her way back.”

Thornton also noted it will be difficult for Marshall and her comeback

because of the depth on the team, which has resulted in competitive

practices.

“We’re probably not going to have a set lineup because we can start

anyone, eight or nine different players,” said Thornton, whose last

conference title came in 1997-98. That season included a trip to the

state championship game. “With this team, it will be different from years

past. We have various lineups, tall, short, midrange. I feel comfortable

with any of the three. Ten or 12 games into the season, we’ll know more

of a starting lineup.”

Returning sophomore Kyra Melville should break into the starting

lineup this year as she is the poster girl for Thornton-coached teams.

With relentless hustle, her main focus is to outwork the opponent.

“She’s our most versatile player,” Thornton said of the 5-10 forward

who can also play guard. “She has grown up a lot in the past year. She

should be one of the better players in the conference.”

Freshmen Andrina Valenzuela (5-7), Charlenda Van Buren (5-10), Jesiree

Dizon (5-9), Candice Quiroz (5-9), Erin John (5-9) and Vanessa Johnson, a

sophomore transfer from Cal Poly Pomona, will also rotate at forward.

Down low, Cara Ducey returns as one of three centers, a group which

also includes Nicole Grady, who took last year off. Thornton terms Grady

a physical player.