Hot Prospect : Barons’ Ludwicki Improves Her Game, Mulls College Choice

Fountain Valley’s Jennifer Ludwicki has watched the others sign. Edison’s Marie Philman and Woodbridge’s Melanie Pearson with UCLA. Mater Dei’s Melody Peterson with Stanford. Teammate Nicole Strange with Oregon.

And she admits she’s surprised she has not yet signed a letter of intent to play college basketball next year.

There was the near-miss with Brigham Young, which instead chose two Utah players after Ludwicki’s trip to Provo. And there was Hawaii, which may be a lovely vacation spot but wasn’t the right place for her.

And so Ludwicki plays on and plays well, wondering where she will play next.

She is the last major senior in Orange County who has not decided on a college. Instead, she has been helping the third-ranked Barons win the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions and take third in the Marina tournament.

And she’s getting rave reviews.

“It’s so hard to defend her,” said Ocean View Coach Ollie Martin, whose ninth-ranked Seahawks have three of their five losses to the Barons. “She can shoot the three, drive to the basket, post up; she’s an excellent ballhandler, draws fouls and really understands the game.

“She presents tremendous matchup problems; you put someone quick enough to guard her and she posts up; you put someone tall on her and she goes around them.”

Ludwicki, a 5-foot-11 forward, has averaged 21.1 points this season. She has not scored fewer than 20 the past nine games, since she was sick and held to 14 against Long Beach Poly in the Tournament of Champions.

Scoring is her strength, defense is her weakness, and Strange is the standard to which she is compared.

Ludwicki and Strange--one is hardly ever mentioned without the other--create one of the most productive tandems in the county. Although Ludwicki has been the higher-scoring player the past two years, Strange has always been regarded the more complete player.

“But Jennifer is getting that way,” Fountain Valley Coach Carol Strausburg said. “Now, they’re pretty much the same.”

Statistically, Strange (15.1 points) still has an edge in rebounds (9.4 to 6.9), assists (103 to 48) and steals (63 to 36).

But Edison Coach Dave White, whose team is also in the Sunset League and ranked sixth in the county, said he never noticed much difference between the two: “I would love to have [Ludwicki] on my team in the fourth quarter with a minute to go and the ball in her hands.”

Strausburg says fearlessness has much to do with Ludwicki’s improvement and clutch performances.

“She doesn’t seem to be afraid of making mistakes, and that’s how you learn,” Strausburg said. “We wouldn’t be winning the games we’re winning without her, that’s for sure.”

But Ludwicki also knows any credit she gets probably should be shared with her close friend.

“I’m a better player because of Nicole,” Ludwicki said. “I think we complement each other. If I make any cut to the basket, she sees me. Same with her. We make each other look better.”

And together, they look nearly unbeatable. Fountain Valley is 16-2.

“I think if you took one away, the other would get a few more points and more ink,” White said, “but I think they would trade the limelight for a few more wins, which is what they’re getting.”

Ludwicki admits she’s surprised by the Barons’ victory total.

“We’re better than I thought we were going to be,” she said. “I thought we would have a good season, but I didn’t think we would be [16-2] right now.”

Their 73-72 loss to Mater Dei on Dec. 29 is the only reason Fountain Valley isn’t No. 1 in the county. It was a game the Barons trailed by seven in the fourth quarter, and then led by four in the fourth, only to lose in the final minute.

Fountain Valley’s only other loss was early, to Woodbridge, ranked No. 1 in the state and No. 3 nationally in the USA Today rankings; it was Woodbridge’s best game. But one day after Fountain Valley lost to Mater Dei, Woodbridge lost to then-unranked Westminster. Fountain Valley beat Westminster by six points three days later.

“We weren’t even thinking about being No. 1 at the beginning of the season,” Ludwicki said. “We were kind of worried because we came out ranked so high [third] in the preseason, that some people would come after us--people play harder against the ranked teams.”

If nothing else, Fountain Valley’s status in Orange County provides a suitable opportunity for Ludwicki to showcase her skills to land that scholarship--which most people are sure will come.

“I’m surprised I haven’t made a college choice yet,” she said, “but I’m hoping the good season we’re having, and that I’m having, that something good will come out of that.”