The Orange County Register selects players of the year in every sport.
If comeback players of the year also were selected, that distinction in girls basketball might go to Coco Miller of JSerra.
Miller had knee reconstruction this past summer to repair a torn ACL. It can take up to a year, or even more, to return to sports after that surgery. NBA star Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls took the entire 2012-13 season off after knee reconstruction.
Miller, a 5-foot-10 senior guard who signed with UC Santa Barbara, was cleared to play in January. She got off to a slow start – four points against St. Bernard of Playa del Rey in her first game back, 11 against Mater Dei of Chula Vista, 10 against Orange Lutheran – but now she is back to the form that made her All-County as a freshman, sophomore and junior.
She has scored 76 points over her past four games to push her season average to 15 points.
JSerra takes a 20-6 record into the CIF-Southern Section girls basketball playoffs, in which the Lions will play in Division 4AA. Last year they played in the 4AA championship game in which they lost to Bishop Montgomery of Torrance by three points.
A healthy Miller could mean another excellent playoffs run for JSerra.
Taking a look around Orange County high school sports:
• The CIF-Southern Section today at 3 p.m. announces which teams have been selected to its Open Division for the boys and girls basketball playoffs. County teams on the “watch list” for Open Division boys: Los Alamitos, Mater Dei, Orange Lutheran and Sonora. County teams on the girls watch list: Brea Olinda, Mater Dei and Troy.
• Five county girls basketball teams are No. 1 in their division rankings: Mater Dei, in Division 1AA; Brea Olinda, Division 3AA; Orange Lutheran, 3A; Fairmont Prep, 4A; and Orangewood Academy, 5AA.
• CIF-SS playoff brackets for girls water polo will be released Sunday. Brackets for boys and girls soccer will be released Monday. All pairings will be available at ocvarsity.com upon release.
• The CIF-SS boys individual wrestling tournament begins next Friday at six sites, including Marina.
• Servite basketball senior guard Trevor Treinen this week was offered a scholarship by San Diego Christian, an NAIA school.
• Mater Dei boys basketball coach Gary McKnight dropped the credit to one person Saturday when the Monarchs held state Fairfax of Los Angeles to nine points in the second half of their 47-34 win in the Nike Extravaganza. “That’s Jason Quinn,” McKnight said of Quinn, who is in his 23rd season as an assistant coach at Mater Dei. Quinn’s specialty is defense.
• Call them The Troy Trio. Three brothers are on teams in the Troy boys basketball program: on the varsity are senior Matthew Mickle and junior Ryan Mickle; freshman Travis Mickle is on the freshman team. The varsity team’s season continues in the CIF-SS playoffs, in which the Warriors will play in Division 1A.
• Tyler Burch said the 56 points he scored for Westminster on Wednesday in a loss to Ocean View was not inspired by the fact he was at Ocean View his freshman and sophomore years before transferring to Westminster. “I was more into that last year,” Burch said. Burch made nine 3-pointers, seven of them in the fourth quarter and a few of those from 25-30 feet out.
• Servite planned to announce its head coaching hire today, although the announcement could happen next week. The school interviewed about a half dozen candidates over the past week.
• Tony Henney, who this week resigned as Trabuco Hills football coach to take the coaching job at Westlake, declined to answer if he would have been among the Servite interviewees. Was he interested? “When a job like that opens up,” Henney said, “Every coach has to think about it.”
• Cardinal Newman of Santa Rosa coach Paul Cronin was close to replacing Troy Thomas at Servite two years ago, when AJ Gass got the job. Cronin, highly thought of at Servite and everywhere else, did not pursue the Servite opening this time.
• County baseball has had several former major-league players serve as assistant baseball coaches, such as Mike Witt at Santa Margarita and many more. Ex-Angel Adam Kennedy has joined the baseball program at Mater Dei where he will work with infielders and hitters. “He will be a great addition to our staff,” Mater Dei coach Burt Call understated.
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
