Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week, Lauren Cassity: Floor show

Barry Faulkner

Someday, Lauren Cassity will turn to a scrap book to recall

highlights of her Estancia High girls basketball career. For now,

however, she simply references her own anatomical damage.

“I’ll find bruises I don’t even remember getting, but I’ll also see one

and think, ‘That was the Costa Mesa game; that was from the Laguna Beach

game; or, this happened against Corona del Mar,’ ” Cassity said.

Floor burns, bruises, and various other structural tweaks, are the

unforgiving toll of Cassity’s high-intensity abandon. But in between

hurtling her body at loose balls, potential rebounds, and even opponents,

the 5-foot-7 senior forward also manages to lead the Eagles in just about

every statistical category.

“She makes a lot of things happen for us,” Estancia Coach Paul Kirby said

of the Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week, who amassed 39 points, 15

rebounds and eight steals to key victories over Saddleback (Jan. 18) and

University (Jan. 20).

Cassity has made herself into an All-Pacific Coast League and

All-Newport-Mesa District player, despite having limited organized

basketball experience before high school.

“She’s a quick learner and a good athlete and she’s not afraid of

anything,” Kirby said. “Sometimes she doesn’t make the greatest

decisions, but she makes up for it by getting a steal, or making another

play to pick us up. You definitely want players who hustle like Lauren on

your side.”

Cassity’s primary athletic passion growing up was soccer, but a desire to

seek new challenges led her to basketball, volleyball, swimming and

softball, all of which will help her graduate next spring with 12 varsity

letters.

But basketball is her favorite and it shows.

While pursuing a loose ball recently against CdM, Cassity collapsed in a

heap, landing awkwardly on her thumb. Though the pain of ligament damage

induced tears as Cassity left the game for good, she never grabbed the

thumb, leaving spectators clueless as to the nature of her injury.

“My teammates thought I fell on my face and broke my nose,” said Cassity,

who reveals jokingly in the Eagles’ team yearbook that she enjoys she

playing basketball because: “I like to fall down and get laughed at.”.

Cassity missed the subsequent game, but taped up the thumb, on her right,

shooting, hand and returned last week, producing the most prolific

two-game scoring total of her three-year varsity career.

“With the tape, I could barely move (the thumb),” she said. “But it

actually helped my shooting. I made 9 of 10 free throws, because I had to

follow through straight.”

Shooting has been the most inconsistent aspect of Cassity’s game, but not

for lack of practice.

“I shoot with her after every practice,” Kirby said. “I’m always trying

to get her to shoot more in games, because she can make 10 in a row in

practice. But, she just won’t shoot from the outside in games. If she

shot more, she’d really be tough to guard, because she’s very good at

driving to the basket.”

Cassity, the team captain in all her sports, recognizes the need to

balance out her offensive repertoire. But, when her ample adrenaline

kicks in, she often opts for the direct route to the hoop.

Kirby, however, softens any criticism, noting: “When we need a basket,

she gets something going for us.”

Cassity always prefers having something going.

In addition to her sports, she is the senior class president, an active

member of the school’s drama department and a talented artist, who

desires a career as an animator.

“Some of the things she draws freehand are unbelievably good,” Kirby

said.

Cassity’s rendition of an Eagle is on display in the girls basketball

locker room and Estancia boys basketball coach Rich Boyce has requested

another masterpiece for his program’s new team room.

Cassity’s dynamism makes her a natural leader and, Kirby said, she has

helped pull together several varsity newcomers to help the Eagles (11-9,

2-2 and in third place halfway through Pacific Coast League play) march

toward a berth in the CIF Southern Section Division III-AA playoffs.

“She’s a quality kid, who sets the kind of example you want for your

players,” Kirby said.