Pirates hardly thin on talent

Bryce Alderton

Activity isn’t likely to stop, even during timeouts of Orange Coast

College women’s basketball games this winter.

Mike Thornton, entering his 16th season guiding Coast, is selling

this year’s team on intensity, instructing his players to go “all

out” while they’re on the floor.

Just who is on the floor for the Bucs, who come off a 14-15 season

and first-round Southern California regional playoff exit, will

change quite frequently.

But Thornton is OK with that.

Coast has just nine players this season, two fewer than the

smallest roster during Thornton’s previous 15 seasons.

OCC started preseason practices with 12, but that number dwindled

after potential players stopped attending once they realized they

weren’t going to make the top nine. Some also had family problems to

attend to, Thornton said.

Despite the thin bench, Thornton said the Pirates make up for the

lack of numbers with cohesiveness and intellect.

“We are a smart team whose work ethic is as good as any I’ve had

here,” said Thornton, who led Coast to the program’s only state

championship in 2002. “I’ve stressed effort and intensity because

those are things we didn’t do well with last year. I don’t know how

good we are going to be, but we are going to play hard all year long.

The wins will take care of themselves.”

The Pirates, whose two tallest players, returners Rhondi Naff

(Costa Mesa High) and Lauren Stepanski, each stand 6-foot, will

likely rely on more of a motion offense -- often using three guards.

Coast ran a half-court offense primarily through center Alisa

Carrillo last season. Carrillo was the Orange Empire Conference

Player of the Year after averaging team-leading totals in points

(17.2) and rebounds (6.9) per game.

Carrillo is a starting at forward for Southern Illinois

University-Edwardsville, an NCAA Division II school.

“We are thin on the front line, so we’re going to pick up our

full-court pressure and give our guards the opportunity to

double-team,” Thornton said. “Our guard play should be better.”

Six of the nine can play guard, including freshmen Crystal

McCormick from Capistrano Valley, Valerie Katayama from Edison,

Christen D’Alessandro (Laguna Hills) and Teeya Fernandez. Sophomore

returners Jessica Chades and Ruby Viloria also bolster Coast’s

backcourt.

Chades led the Pirates in steals (63) and assists (106) last

season.

Thornton said the Pirates could feature three different starting

lineups for three different games. He tentatively gave the starting

nods to Katayama at the point, McCormick at the two and D’Alessandro

at the three, prior to the season-opening Mt. San Antonio tournament,

which ended Sunday with the Pirates finishing fourth.

“All three have a great work ethic that has carried over to the

rest of the team,” Thornton said.

D’Alessandro, who made a steal in the waning seconds that helped

Coast preserve a 60-59 victory over Solano in the season opener Nov.

12, played the first four games last season before mononucleosis

sidelined her for the rest of the year.

Naff, who has committed to Cal State Bakersfield, and Stepanski

anchor the frontcourt and Thornton has been impressed with their

improvement.

Naff, a two-time first-team All-Golden West League selection at

Costa Mesa, finished second on the team with 10.4 ppg and 23

three-pointers.

“[Naff] should be one of the better players in the [Orange Empire

Conference],” Thornton said. “She has worked on the things she needed

to work on, such as going to her left. She is also physically

stronger. She bought into the strength program and her defense has

improved a lot.”

Stepanski averaged 5.6 rebounds and 4.4 points a year ago, the

former good for second on the team. Thornton expects that success to

continue.

“[Stepanski] has a nose for the ball and moves better than she did

last year,” Thornton said. “She has got the ability to play a lot if

she stays healthy.”

Waiting in the wings along the front lines is freshman Nancy

Castro, the reigning Newport-Mesa Player of the Year who averaged 19

points and 9.7 rebounds as an Estancia senior last winter.

“[Castro] is like a sponge,” Thornton said. “She wants to learn

and has a tremendous work ethic. “She is playing hard all the time

and she plays a lot. But I told the players that we’re not going to

have one starting lineup at the beginning of the season.”

Thornton expects frequent rotations and said he would be surprised

if anyone plays more than 30 minutes a game.

That is, unless the injury bug hits.

“The only way someone would play close to 40 minutes would be if

three or four people were hurt,” Thornton said. “But we’re going into

the season with all nine healthy.”

Coast will again face a difficult conference struggle, Thornton

said.

He lumped Cypress, defending conference champion Fullerton and

Riverside as the top three teams, followed by Coast, Saddleback and

Irvine Valley in the middle, with Golden West and Santa Ana rounding

out the eight squads.

Cypress entered the season ranked No. 12 in the California

Community College Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Association’s preseason

top 20 poll. Riverside and Fullerton came are Nos. 16 and 17,

respectively.

But the Pirates aren’t the only teams with small numbers.

Saddleback begins the season with nine while Fullerton and Cypress

each carry 10.

Thornton said “it’s just one of those years” with less numbers all

around.

The play, though, should be unaffected, he said.

“The quality of play is going up, not down,” Thornton said.

Coast begins conference play against host Saddleback Jan. 5.

The Pirates will compete in five tournaments leading up to the

conference opener without a single nonconference game on the

schedule.

Thornton purposely scheduled more tournament appearances to give

his players more games. In the past, Coast played in four tournaments

along with two nonconference contests.

“Sometimes it’s hard playing three nights in a row, but I thought

the opportunity for an extra game is better than anything else,”

Thornton said.