Costa Mesa to experiment at center as new season opens

Patrick Laverty

Scouring the campus for height, Costa Mesa High girls basketball

coach Jim Weeks came up empty handed and was forced to turn to an

alternative idea.

And it’s a novel one for basketball.

The Mustangs will enter the 2003-04 season, attempting to extend

their streak of consecutive playoff appearances to 15, with a

5-foot-3 center. Yes, Costa Mesa’s center will likely be one of the

shortest players on the court, but Weeks has little other choice.

“That’s going to be our problem,” Weeks said “Our problem is our

lack of height. But we’re a good shooting team and we have a lot of

depth. We have a lot of good girls coming off the bench.”

The depth begins with 5-3 senior point guard Cassey Brick, the

Mustangs’ lone returning starter, and extends with returning varsity

players Suzy Trujillo, a 5-6 senior shooting guard, and Ashley Kelly,

a 5-6 senior forward.

Likely joining that trio in the starting lineup will be 5-6

guard/forward Bethany Vergara, the MVP of the junior varsity team as

a freshman last season, and her sister, Brittany, who will be the

team’s 5-3 senior center.

Mesa’s lack of height will force Weeks to change things up a

little bit and while he plans on sticking to his traditional

man-to-man defense, the Mustangs may be forced to pressure the ball

more often.

“We’re going to try all sorts of things, picking up the tempo,

pressing,” Weeks said. “We’re going to stick to our man-to-man

defense, but we may pick them up deep. Or we may drop back and just

hope our opponents miss their shots.”

He’s hoping the Mustangs don’t miss too many of theirs, without a

big offensive rebounder inside. But Weeks is also hopeful that

Brittany Vergara, a good three-pointer shooter, can pull the

opposition’s center out from underneath the basket.

Costa Mesa’s depth continues with a strong bench. Junior Heather

Cluff, 5-6, will compete for a spot in the starting lineup, while

sophomores Deanna Sanchez (5-3 point guard), Judie Akansel (5-5

shooting guard) and Tracy Bjelland (5-7 forward) will all serve as

valuable backups.

Of course, with four sophomores in the rotation, Weeks expects

growing pains.

“If our sophomores develop quickly, we’re going to compete very

well,” Weeks said. “But with four sophomores, you’re going to have

mistakes. There’s going to be games where you get hot and games where

you don’t get hot.”

One player who will be a big help if she is able to get hot is

5-foot-11 junior Venise Enesi. She and her sister, 5-8 senior Soli,

are both playing basketball for the first time. Weeks said. Venise,

the tallest player on the Mustangs’ roster, is a very good athlete.

“If she develops, that changes a lot for us,” Weeks said.

What won’t change is the way the Mustangs approach every game.

With the Golden West League strong on top with Estancia and Ocean

View, and Westminster and Saddleback also expected to be contenders,

Mesa knows it will need wins early in the season to extend its

playoff run.

“Every game is like a playoff game for us because if you win 11

games you make the playoffs,” Weeks said. “We start off with CdM on

Dec.1 and that’s an important one right from the start.”

That game will give a few clues to how the center experiment

works. Sophomore Janae Craven (5-7) was expected to compete for the

center spot but has had surgery on both knees in the past year and

isn’t likely to return before late January.

But if the Mustangs shoot the ball well, they may not need a true

center.

“We’re a good outside shooting team, but with no inside game I

don’t know how we’re going to take advantage of our outside game,”

Weeks said.