GIRL'S BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK: ANTELOPE VALLEY GETS AN EDUCATION ANTELOPES GAIN SUMMER EXPERIENCE.

Byline: Rich Hammond  Staff Writer

This probably wasn't the most opportune year for the Antelope Valley High girls' basketball team to make its debut in the Jack in the Box tournament.

The Antelopes have struggled somewhat this summer while trying to fill the holes left by the graduation of starters Crystal McCutcheon and Jacquana Young, but even though the Antelopes went 2-4 in San Diego, it wasn't considered a wasted trip.

``It's more about getting the experience,'' coach April Davenport said. ``For me, the summer isn't really about wins and losses, especially this year.''

Coaches almost unanimously praise the Jack in the Box tournament for being well run and giving teams a chance to bond while living on the road together in San Diego for a week.

That was especially important for Antelope Valley, which had to deal with something of a power struggle earlier in the summer.

``It was like World War III for a while,'' Davenport said. ``Everybody wanted to be the leader and that caused some conflicts.''

--Looking tough: No grand predictions for the upcoming girls' basketball season can reasonably be made based on the results of summer-league games, but by all indications the Foothill League title will not be taken easily this winter.

In the final week of summer league, Hart, considered the early favorite in league, lost to Saugus and needed double overtime to beat a young but talented Valencia team.

``And we didn't even really see teams like Canyon or Burroughs,'' Hart coach Dave Munroe said. ``It's going to be an interesting year.''

It already is. Hart, bolstered by the addition of freshman point guard Ashlee Trebilcock to a young but tested group of starters, went 30-4 in the summer, with three of those losses coming in last month's prestigious Jack in the Box tournament in San Diego.

The Indians went 3-3 in the tournament's toughest division, which included 128 teams, and one of the losses came to defending section champion Troy of Fullerton. Hart also had to deal with nagging ankle injuries to Trebilcock and guard Ali Campbell.

``Overall I'm very pleased with the way we played this summer,'' Munroe said. ``We did a lot of things well and I think we built some momentum for the season.''

Hart concluded its summer two weeks ago with games against Saugus and Valencia. Trebilcock missed the second half of the Saugus game, but the Indians stayed within two points in the final three minutes before they lost by 10 points.

Valencia was without starting guard Rashae Minor but took the Indians to double-overtime before losing by five. The Indians were without starting shooting guard Amanda Patton (back injury).

--Changing places: Canyon coach Paul Broneer volunteered himself for a demotion this summer.

Broneer coached the Cowboys' freshman team, leaving the varsity to his daughter, Jamie, a former standout at Hart who has assisted her father in coaching the past few years.

``We had a situation where our JV coach couldn't commit to coaching, so I asked my daughter whether she would rather coach the varsity or the freshmen,'' Paul Broneer said.

``She coached a lot of those girls when they were freshmen, so she probably knows them better than I do.''

Canyon's varsity team went 13-12 without leading scorer Ashley Palmer, who spent the summer in Thousand Oaks and played club basketball. The freshmen went 12-0 against other freshmen, 3-1 against JV teams and 1-1 against varsity teams.

``I really enjoyed working with them,'' Paul Broneer said. ``It's nice to be able to teach them how to do things my way and prevent them from getting into bad habits. They worked really hard and I think that will pay off down the line.''