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LARRY MAESTAS Armchair quarterbacks, or in this case armchair point guards, can have a field day with the latest in an exodus of top-notch Barstow High School female student athletes. All basketball players, Senior Heather Floyd, who was named to the all-San An dreas League team a year ago with an 18-point average, is now playing guard for Ayala High School in Chino Hills. The 5-foot-6 perimeter player spent three years as an Aztec and watched two of the better players in town leave to what has turned out to be greener pastures, i.e., attracting col lege scouts. Whether you agree with the relocation of promising high school athletes or not, all three are expected to have produc tive college careers due mainly to the change of venue. ‘It's hard leaving,” said Floyd recently. “It will be bet ter for me in the long run — better exposure.” Floyd, who is averaging 15 points, seven assists and four steals in the once-beaten run and-gun Bulldog program, said her parents made the move to the Chino Hills area to give her a better shot at a basketball scholarship. ‘There will be a lot of schools out to watch (Floyd) during our Christmas tourna ment,” said Ayala coach Mel Harris, a former Victor Valley College student. “Heather has 14 threes right now and we're trying to break our own (team) state record for threes (171) that we set last year.” The Bulldogs currently aver age six 3-pointers a game, one behind the record average. “In this program the girls have to shoot the ball or get benched,” stressed the coach, whose program has sent six out of eight seniors to four-year colleges in two years. “That's what the college coaches want to see, the girls putting it up.” Jennifer Saari is widely rec ognized as the brightest star to leave the nest. The 5-foot-8 junior, who never attended Barstow High, was prominently figured into the school’s future while play ing on the eighth-grade boys team and on an AAU Under 14 team that took second place in the nation. As a freshman at Brea-Olinda High, Saari was on a state and national champi onship team. As a junior she is the starting playmaker for the Wildcats. Her parents formerly owned Barstow Music. Also missing is 6-foot-1 se nior Courtney Bell. The former center is now playing a wing on a one-loss Temple (Texas) team that is ranked as the state’s No. 2 team and has been ranked as high as No. 3 nation ally this year by USA Today. The team ventured deep into the state playoffs a year ago when Bell (10 points, five re bounds, five blocks and four steals) was the sixth man. The Barstow High team this year features two prominent players — senior Rose Duran and freshman Julie Danieles -- and some support players who have been fine-tuned over the last couple seasons. The Barstow “dream team” as I see it would have the 5-8 Saab (point-guard) Duran and Danieles in a three-guard set, Floyd at the forward spot and Bell at center. With Lisa Gate ly, Somer Bonar, Roberta Chavez, Yvonne Hijoe and Cassie Sumrow coming off the bench, the Aztecs would also offer depth at each position. That team, folks, would be considered contenders in al most any league in Southern California. “It really breaks my heart,” said Brett Saari. “I envision some really neat things that could have happened.” Jennifer Saari was the first to leave, her father citing prob lems with a BHS administra tion not willing to make posi tive changes in the program. “But as I find out down here too, making changes is not part of the scheme of things. It’s hard for people to change, said Jennifer’s father. “But the move has been for the better. She’s really come into her own. It was initially for her educa tion and a (basketball) scholar ship, but she’s really grown as a person and has earned the respect of all her teammates.’ Saari is averaging 15 points per game and better than four assists and four steals for once beaten Brea-Olinda. She has been receiving let ters of interest since the eighth grade and now gets “two to three a week,” says her father. She has been contacted by most Pac-10 schools (including UCLA), Pepperdine Univer sity, Purdue, Boston College, Duke and Marquette among others, he said. Bell said: “After living (in Temple) and seeing how sup portive the student body and all the people are to girls sports, I’d have to say I would stay (in Texas). “They are so much more sup portive of girls sports here.” Bell also wonders about a Bar stow “dream team.” “There’s more support here and I’ve been seen by more col leges, but I’m sure if all of us would have stayed everybody would have gotten seen. But you never know,” she said. “Things have worked out pret ty well so far.” The Temple “Tom-Cat” has taken one official college visit to Southwest Texas State but also has heard from Louisiana State University and Georgia. “It would have been nice (if everyone would have stayed),” said the Aztecs’ Duran. “We would have been able to play well together and not have to think about the other players, just play the game. “The key thing there is that all five (dream team) players just love the game.” But in a sport where the ath letes are limited by the depth of the sport (a professional league is trying to get off the ground), college scholarship opportunities must come be fore the love of the game. Larry Maestas is a staff writer. He can be reached at 951-6274. Larry Maestas Sports Talk
Newspaper Details
Barstow Desert Dispatch
Barstow, California, US
Sat, Dec 16, 1995
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Roberta C.
USA 19 Jul 2026
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