Ex-UCI women’s player in ABA

Kristen Green, a former women’s basketball standout at UC Irvine, has been signed by the Orange County Gladiators of the American Basketball Assn. men’s professional league.

The 5-foot-9 guard is scheduled to make her men’s pro debut Sunday at 5:15 p.m. against the San Diego Wildcats at JSerra High in San Juan Capistrano.

The signing, orchestrated by Green’s agent, Tony Farmer, also a player and head coach for the Gladiators, was approved recently by team president and owner David R. Clarke, who said it is anything but a publicity stunt.

“Before signing Kristen, I told Coach Farmer that I wanted to see how she could play against our current roster,” Clarke said in a statement. “We ran a full scrimmage [Dec. 27] and after her fourth straight three-pointer, in addition to a number of assists, it was evident that she could play effectively for us. Our signing of Kristen is not a side show. She can play.”

Green, 25, who has played in women’s professional leagues in Holland, Puerto Rico and Turkey, as well as in the National Women’s Basketball League, said she recently returned from an ill-fated stint with a pro team in Turkey, when Farmer approached her about giving the ABA a try.

She is believed to be the fourth female player to make an ABA roster.

“Walking into a gym full of guys, I was nervous,” she said of her first scrimmage with the team. “But as soon as I started scoring a little bit, the rest of the team welcomed me and they really accepted me.”

Green said her ultimate goal is to sign with a WNBA team, or with a professional women’s league overseas.

She said playing in the ABA will help promote her career and, hopefully, lead to another opportunity.

“I’ve had a lot of bad experiences with coaches not realizing my talent and what I can do,” Green said. “I’m hoping to open up some eyes.”

Known for her three-point shooting as a professional — she shot 42% from three-point range in Amsterdam to lead the league and she reportedly averaged more than 17 points per game in three seasons overseas — Green is aware of those skeptical of her ability to compete against taller, stronger and quicker men.

“I know that I’m a female and I know about all the [physical] differences,” Green said. “I just want to try to put that behind me and play. I can always hit the open shot, but if it comes to putting the ball on the floor, I can handle that just as well. I’ve had no trouble doing that against other guys [in practice]. I just want to play my game and help in any way I can. I want to show people that females can do what men do. I’m just really excited about the whole thing.”

The ABA — which began in the 1960s as an alternative to the NBA, but has evolved into an often chaotic collection of more than 40 teams, many of which fold, or move, before completing one season — first featured a woman in 1968, when Penny Ann Early’s career with the Kentucky Colonels [a stunt ordered by the team owner] included inbounding the ball, before being replaced and never playing again.

In 2005, the ABA’s Los Angeles Aftershock featured Giuliana Mendiola, a former El Toro High star who played collegiately at Washington.

The Mississippi Stingers also listed former Jackson State standout Amie Williams on their roster in 2005. It is unclear whether Williams ever saw action.

There have been other instances of women in men’s professional basketball leagues.

In 1986, former Old Dominion star Nancy Lieberman, became the first women to play in a men’s pro basketball league when she joined the United States Basketball League’s Springfield Fame.

In 1985, former Kansas star Lynette Woodard became the first woman to play for the Harlem Globetrotters.

In 1987, Lieberman joined the Washington Generals, a touring opponent of the Globetrotters.

In 1979, former UCLA star Ann Meyers signed a one-year, $50,000 contract with the NBA’s Indiana Pacers, though she failed to make the team after a subsequent tryout.

Farmer said Green could play anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes per game, depending on her effectiveness. He said her signing did not come at the expense of a more qualified male player.

“We’re definitely going to put her in and let her play,” Farmer said. “We didn’t sign her to be a cheerleader. We didn’t want to sign a male. We have 10 or 11 players who are good for us. With the blend in talent we have, we can make up any slack or whatever deficiency there is. Our guys know what she can do and they have her back. If a player can play, a player can play and you have to give [the player] credit. That high school found out about that when that manager kid [Jason McElwain] went in and hit six threes [the autistic teen finished with 20 points in the final four minutes of Athena High’s 2005-06 regular-season finale in upstate New York]. We don’t need a novelty item. My players are excited about [Green’s debut]. They hope she scores 100.”

In her senior season at UCI, Green averaged 13.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.6 steals to earn second-team All-Big West Conference recognition.

Green said her mother, Dana Luedtke, is planning to travel from Orinda, Calif. to be at Sunday’s game.

“[Luedtke] is flying down with my stepdad,” Green said. “[Luedtke] is excited for me, but, like a typical mom, she’s a little nervous. She told me ‘They’re men, so I don’t want you to get hurt.’ ”

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at barry.faulkner@latimes.com.