DAILY PILOT HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETE OF THE WEEK:

The way Coach Bill Barnett sees it, crediting his starting six wouldn’t really do justice to the deep Newport Harbor High girls’ water polo team this season.

“We were very happy to have three or four players who could come off the bench and contribute,” Barnett said. “It wasn’t so much a starting six, it was a starting nine or 10.”

Senior Kimmy Morrison wasn’t always part of the starting six, but she was definitely part of the “starting” 10. And Morrison, who wears cap No. 10, also gave a performance worthy of that score in Saturday night’s CIF Southern Section Division I championship game against Back Bay rival Corona del Mar.

The Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week scored a key goal from set with just under three minutes to go in the game, pulling the Sailors within a goal. Then, in the second overtime period, it was Morrison’s shot from the perimeter that caromed off the crossbar and to junior Nicolina McCall, who punched in the go-ahead goal in Newport Harbor’s 6-5 win.

A sweet win for Morrison and all of the seniors, who jumped in the water at Irvine High and celebrated after coming back from a three-goal deficit. But Morrison, inserted in the fourth quarter, helped make the difference for the Sailors, who defeated CdM for the fourth time in five meetings this season.

“We’ve played [CdM] so much, and we know each other so well,” she said. “I came in, and I was like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe this is happening. We’re getting murdered, and we’ve killed these girls. I can’t believe it.’ ”

Morrison said she looked at the faces of fellow seniors like team captain Mimi Bury, who fouled out of the game in the third quarter, and Jessica Robinson, Amanda Simons and Elizabeth Wheeler.

“We’ve worked so hard all these years, and we’ve always wanted to do this, but everybody looked so down,” she said. “It kind of fired me up.”

Morrison has been playing club water polo for Newport Water Polo Foundation since the sixth grade. In her first full year on varsity, she has scored 22 goals for the Sailors, who are the top-seeded team in the CIF Southern Section Masters Tournament that beings today.

“She has tremendous athletic ability,” Barnett said. “She throws the ball as hard as any boy. She certainly helped us in the [Division I final]. She stepped up.”

But Morrison might have had a bigger role if not for the emergence of McCall, who leads Newport Harbor in scoring. The transfer from Rosary has played a lot at center for the Sailors, as have Bury and occasionally sophomores Kaleigh Gilchrist and Kate Klippert.

A lot of time to share, and a change from prior years when Newport Harbor would have one dominant girl at set. Last year, it was Sarah Roberts, and two years ago it was Calli Manderino. Three years ago, Morrison remembered, it was Ashling Taylor.

“Whatever is best for the team is best for the team,” Morrison said. “[McCall and I] both play set, so it was kind of awkward. But we get along, and she reads people so well. Nothing’s come out of Nina except for positive things for the team.”

Barnett said he appreciated the fact that Morrison could come into the game at a moment’s notice and contribute.

“She never complained,” Barnett said. “She always worked very, very hard. That’s one of the things we stress. Even if you’re on the bench, stay into the game. I give her total credit for that. She did a great job.”

After Morrison’s goal in the Division I final, Gilchrist scored to pull the Sailors even late in the fourth quarter. And, when it was over and Newport Harbor had won, there were tears of joy.

“[Senior Lauren] Jarvie came up to me in the pool, and she was like, ‘I’m so proud of you,’ just bawling,” Morrison said. “She just had all these tears running down her eyes. It made me cry. I was like, ‘Oh, Jarvie,’ and I just gave her a big hug. I was so happy.”

Unlike many of the large families that come through the Newport program, Morrison is an only child. She credits her father, Patrick, for throwing the ball with her at a young age and helping her shot become so strong.

Morrison plans to play water polo next year for Long Beach City College, coached by Chris Oeding, a two-time Olympic water polo star who was a standout at Corona del Mar High. But, she said, it’s tough to realize that her career at Newport Harbor is nearing a close.

“It’s weird,” she said. “I’ve been at this pool for how many years now? Six or seven years at this pool, and it’s weird that I’m not going to be a part of it anymore. A lot of girls come back and help coach, like [current assistant coach] Jenna [Murphy]. It becomes a part of you.”

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or [email protected].