Partaking of One-Day Hoop Diet

SAN DIEGO —  Call it Frantic Friday, or The Diary of a Longest Day.

It happens once a year, this smorgasbord of ambitions and anxieties. It stretches from brunch until long after dinner.

This was the day when the brightest and best of San Diego County high school basketball gathered for the boys’ and girls’ championship games in Divisions I, II and III.

All year long, youngsters dream of getting to the Sports Arena, as though it represented a promised land of sorts. In fact, what it represented was a fulfillment of promise.

On Friday, 12 teams were there.

The menu . . .

BRUNCH

Ramona was wearing its red, white and blue, but the flag it was waving was for a community long denied when it came to athletic success.

“The town has been in a frenzy,” said Joe Bess, whose girls would play Lincoln for the Division III championship.

Indeed, it almost seemed that Ramona was not home Friday. A fleet of buses had moved the big little city to the Sports Arena.

The Bulldog girls did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm. This was to be their day.

Lincoln’s Lady Hornets came up snow-cone cold on this most critical of occasions. Incredibly, they were 0 for 25 shooting in the first half. They were down, 26-5, and essentially out. The final score was 41-23.

“It was really exciting,” said Ramona junior Meleea Van Patton, “REALLY exciting.”

But it’s been exciting all week.

“We’ve felt like celebrities,” she said.

LUNCH

Late in the girls’ game, an ominous chant rose from the Lincoln rooting section.

“That’s all right, that’s OK,” they yelled, “our boys will beat you anyway.”

The same two schools met for the Division III boys’ championship, and Lincoln was heavily favored. It won, 71-63, but it wasn’t easy. Ramona’s Bulldogs did their nickname proud before slipping out of contention in the final minute.

“I know they’re going to put this one on the loss side,” said Ramona Coach Al Schaffer, “but I feel like a winner.”

That’s nice. That is the way it should be on days like this.

And a very pleasant winner was Lincoln guard Carl Gaines, who had “CIF 4”--his uniform number--shaved into the back of his head.

“Just getting here was not the bottom line for us,” he said. “Getting here and winning was. Our goal is to win and be classy gentlemen on and off the court.”

Fine, Carl, but what about the haircut?

“That was more for our fans,” he said.

But he might have to change it now. It should read: “CIF 1.”

HIGH TEA

Lisa Reinstra, Nicole Rothey, Terri Pearson and Julie Doria got together for a little reunion. In another setting, it might have been nice to share memories of a barnstorming basketball trip to Europe they took last summer.

But reminiscing had to wait, because Reinstra and Pearson play for Fallbrook, and Rothey and Doria play for San Pasqual. There was the little matter of settling the girls’ Division II championship.

Doria, the senior with the hair cropped close on the sides and the mop on top, proved to be the dominant player on the court. She didn’t do it with size, because she stands only 5-feet 8-inches, but rather with a presence which said she was in control.

Only after a 45-40 victory was secure did she admit it might have been just a little bit scary.

“A little bit?” she laughed. “It was more than a little bit. They came pretty close.”

DINNER

The main course was heavy. No quiche allowed.

Madison and Kearny, neighbors on the mesa north of Mission Valley, pounded at each other until the noise level seemed only a few notches below Minnesota’s Hanky Dome.

A most interested onlooker was Jim Thompson, who played for the Warhawks when last they visited the Sports Arena.

“It was 1973,” he said. “That was also the last time we had 20 wins.”

The outcome back in ’73 was not what Thompson had in mind. Madison met Morse in the semifinals and lost.

It was different this time with the boys’ Division II title at stake. Jeff Alexander, who said he was in the wrong place at the right time, stole the ball away from a stalling Kearny with 30 seconds to play, and Robby Robinson’s follow shot gave Madison a 54-53 win.

Jim Thompson was happy. COACH Jim Thompson was happy.

DESSERT

“Chick Hoops,” said the marquee at Mt. Carmel High School.

“Chick Hoops 1,” said the banner above the rooting section.

Chick Hoops?

“Some people thought we might be offended,” said Tracy Peck, one of Mt. Carmel’s chick hoopsters, “but we’ve adopted it.”

As inspirational slogans go, it doesn’t rank up there with “54, 40 or fight” . . . but Mt. Carmel’s girls went out and won themselves the Division I championship with a 57-47 victory over Santana.

The nickname came from a couple of Mt. Carmel teachers, Pat Walsh from the math department and Steve Edwards from history.

“They follow us all over,” Peck said. “They’re like our mascots.

BEDTIME SNACK

It was 10 p.m. in San Diego when The Longest Day finally ended. But it was 7 a.m. TODAY in Norway, and that was significant because Oystein (Stu) Back had a telephone call to make.

Back is a foreign exchange student who started--and starred--for Santana, which beat Morse, 67-62, for the Division I boys’ championship.

“I’ve never been to a tournament like this,” he said, “but it’s great fun. I think I will call home.”

And so it would be that a new day was dawning, even as this one ended.