DAILY PILOT HIGH SCHOOL FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK:Courtney working double time

Jennifer Courtney loves those double-doubles.

She gets them, she makes them and she eats them.

Before, during or after a Costa Mesa High girls’ basketball game.

That’s all in a day’s work for Courtney, who works in the kitchen at In-N-Out and on the hardwood as a forward at Costa Mesa.

As for her favorite double-double? A protein style one with the meat wrapped in a hand-leafed lettuce instead of between bread goes down well after recording double figures in points and rebounds that night.

Don’t forget, no spread, unless the spread has Costa Mesa covering.

As of late, the Mustangs have on the court. Courtney’s done her part as a senior, leading the way with the Mustangs in a first-place tie with Calvary Chapel in the Orange Coast League.

Two league games remain in the regular season and Courtney has Costa Mesa (15-10, 6-1 in league) currently aiming for a league championship. The Mustangs will have their chance Monday at 6 p.m. at Calvary Chapel, which is also 6-1 in league.

But Courtney and her teammates are yearning for more than claiming the school its first league crown since 1998.

“That would be awesome for us to end [Weeks’ 15th year] by going to state, winning CIF, and winning league,” said Courtney, who leads the team averaging 9.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. “This might be his last year coaching. He mentioned … this is one of the best teams we’ve had in a long, long time.”

Backing up Weeks’ statement is the superb team chemistry he’s seen since the summer. On a stacked roster, Weeks uses a 10-player rotation and players don’t complain for more minutes.

They learned they have to earn them. Desire is what the coach counts on when a player is in the game, setting the bar high is Courtney.

At 5-foot-6, she shows anything is possible with resolve. Courtney might be the shortest low-post player in the league, but she’s exudes confidence in the paint.

Step near her and you’re bound to be intimidated by her aggressiveness.

Last week, she led the Mustangs to back-to-back victories. She scored a season-high 18 points to go with 12 rebounds in a 66-38 rout at Laguna Beach and then 17 points and 15 rebounds in a 52-47 victory against then unbeaten in league Calvary Chapel.

Not one to easily get perturbed, Courtney almost did lose her cool against Calvary Chapel. With good reason, when two opponents hammered her with 21.4 seconds remaining and Costa Mesa up, 50-45.

Calming her down was Weeks, who’s usually the one blowing off steam during games.

“She [retaliates] and they call a technical foul on her,” Weeks said. “She doesn’t want to give them any chance to come back.”

Courtney never lets up. Her brother, Randy, 21, taught her how to get after it.

“He’s my biggest role model. He played football, basketball, soccer, and in all of them he was really successful,” said Courtney of her now 21-year-old brother, who played at Granite Hills in Apple Valley. “I’m like, ‘Who wants it more? Who has that burning desire and passion and they hate losing?’

“You have to be a beast when you go out there.”

Weeks loves Courtney’s determination and team-player attitude. If Weeks carried a roster full of Courtneys, he said he probably wouldn’t be as overzealous.

The coach’s act on the sideline first struck Courtney the wrong way as a sophomore.

“I was kind of scared and intimidated, because he’s always yelling. I was like, ‘Wow! I don’t know if I can take this,’” Courtney said. “But then I got used to it. Now I love it because the way he expresses himself inspires me.”

Weeks’ approach is supportive, much like the atmosphere she said is working at In-N-Out. Without the screaming, though, when she screws up an order.

Courtney says the teamwork involved at working at the fast-food place is a lot like it is in basketball.

“If you sit around and wait for things to happen, they won’t happen,” she said. “You got to get up and do what you got to do and get it done.

“Life is beautiful. You go on your ups and downs. You might as well enjoy it.”

Double-doubles usually do the trick for Courtney.

JENNIFER COURTNEY

Hometown: Apple Valley

Born: Jan. 1, 1989

Height: 5-foot-6

Sport: Basketball

Position: Forward

Coach: Jim Weeks

Favorite food: Chinese

Favorite movie: “A Walk to Remember”

Favorite athletic moment: Helping Costa Mesa hand Ocean View its first league loss last year, as the Mustangs won, 45-44, on a three-pointer by Bethany Vergara with five seconds left in the Golden West League game.

Week in review: Recorded a season-high 18 points to go along with 12 rebounds in a 66-38 Orange Coast League victory at Laguna Beach. She followed that up by scoring 11 of her game-high 17 points in the fourth quarter and grabbing 15 rebounds to lead Costa Mesa to a 52-47 victory against Calvary Chapel, which dropped its first league game of the year.