While Boys’ Skills Fall Off, Girls’ Are Improving

MISSION VIEJO —  Mary Anderson drives the lane at Capistrano Valley High, then makes a no-look pass to Jenny Jennings behind the three-point line.

Jennings’ knees bend and she flows effortlessly through her shot, finishing it with a wrist-snap flourish. The ball arcs off her fingertips, extending the wave her body has carved in the air, and slips through the basket.

If Jennings’ movements could be captured on film and slowed, the movie would resemble the blooming of a flower over time-lapse exposures. We know that its mechanics can be accounted for with biology and physics, but science doesn’t explain the beauty.

“There are just some people who know how to shoot the ball and they just have a feel for where the basket is. No matter what their release looks like, they are just pure shooters,” said Mary Mulligan, San Clemente girls’ basketball coach.

More and more, girls are perfecting the art of shooting. This trend stands in contrast to shooting trends of the boys’ game, where the NBA’s influence has resulted in tumbling field-goal percentages.

“I think the girls are much more open to being taught proper technique because they don’t watch the NBA, they don’t know anything different. They won’t try a running jumper through the middle of the key,” Mulligan said. “Girls also are embarrassed to do anything wrong. Girls are more self-conscious about looking silly and so they want to know how to do it right.”

Girls nonetheless lag behind boys in almost every shooting statistic. The shot clock, which is used in the girls’ game but not in the boys’, can account for some of the disparity, but even at the free-throw line, 75% is the standard for boys and 65% is good for girls.

If the trends continue, however, the girls could quickly make up ground.

“In the girls’ [game], there isn’t much show because the girls can’t get up in the air that high so the fundamental part has become extremely important,” Capistrano Valley Coach Pete Belanto said. “I think the game will never get to that level where the girls play it at the rim, so there’s always going to be that premium on the sound, fundamental kid who can shoot the 15- to 18-foot jump shot.”

The increasing interest of girls over the last two decades in hanging out in the gym is probably the single biggest factor in the improvement of girls’ shooting.

“It’s more acceptable for the girls to play now. Girls have role models to watch more and more,” said Laguna Hills Coach Lynn Taylor, who has been watching girls’ basketball for almost 20 years. “When I first started, you might have one girl [on whom] you have to concentrate a little bit from the outside. Now, on some teams, you’re going to have at least two shooters.”

With better shooters drawing defenses out from under the basket, the girls’ game has opened up dramatically.

“Because the kids are better shooters, the defenses are more spread out and consequently your shooting percentage is increasing because other shots open up,” Taylor said.

Jennings is one of the county’s top shooters this season. She set a Capistrano Valley record with nine three-pointers in a 67-29 victory over Dana Hills this month. So far this season she has shot at least seven three-pointers in seven different games and she’s currently shooting 61% from three-point range.

In a recent game against San Clemente, the Tritons’ Taryn Commins drew the task of defending Jennings. Commins fared well, limiting Jennings to four-for-13 shooting from the field, including three of eight from three-point range.

“It’s a tough job. You know no matter how close you get to her she’ll shoot them, so you have to do what you can to stop her,” Commins said. “She’s going to make them because she’s Jenny Jennings.”

For Jennings, the reason she makes her shots has less to do with biology and more to do with practice--she seeks help from private shooting coach Tom Marumoto and estimates she takes between 200 and 400 shots per day.

“That sounds like a lot but it’s not,” Jennings said. “If you’re going to be a good shooter, you need to do that every day.”

And with that practice comes confidence.

“A lot of shooting is believing in yourself, thinking you can make the shot,” Taylor said. “If you look at the basket and think, ‘I can shoot it,’ if you’ve shot enough, you probably can.”