Long Beach Poly's guards leading way into CIF-SS title game

This was supposed to be the year of the redwood at Long Beach Poly, not the year of the shrub. When September rolled around, girls basketball head coach Carl Buggs was looking at a roster that would sport three NCAA Division 1-level post players, all 6-foot-1 or taller.

However, headed into this Saturday’s CIF Southe Section Open Division championship game against Chaminade, it may tu out that the difference makers are Poly’s guards, especially the duo of junior Danae Miller and senior Da’Jah Jackson.

Three 6-foot-1 players of a high caliber is virtually unheard of on a high school roster, even at a powerhouse program like the Jackrabbits. But since September, that expected roster was whittled away by the usual suspects — CSU Northridge signee Eliza Matthews has missed the entire year with a knee injury. Jasmine Jones had to sit out Poly’s first month because she transferred. USC commit Ayaa Clark has missed 10 games because of missed practices and falling short of the team’s grade expectations.

Meanwhile, Miller and Jackson have played in every game, and have averaged a combined 19 points per game, almost a third of Poly’s total. Along with Poly’s other key guard, Cierra Belvin, they’re the only players who have played in every game this year.

“Because of everything that’s happened, more has had to be asked of those kids,” Poly coach Carl Buggs said. “They’ve had to carry the load.”

Buggs points out that his entire corps of guards has had to play out of position at times. Senior Siana Fields, a Clemson signee, has had to guard the opposition’s power forward at times.

“Our guards had to step up big time, and they accepted that,” Buggs said.

None more so than the fleet-of-foot duo of Miller and Jackson. Not only are the pair third and fourth on the team in scoring, they also combine to average seven rebounds, five assists, and six steals per game.

Both also say they were motivated by the way Poly’s guards were written off before the season began.

“Everyone said Poly is just about their bigs and that we can’t shoot this year,” Jackson said. “We had to show everybody what we can bring too.”

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The two have about half of Poly’s made 3-pointers thisufeff season, and are the leading shooters on the team with more than ufeff10 attempts. But Buggs agrees that while in September he may have just seen his guards as needing to spot up and knock down open ufeff3-pointers, the group has had to bring a lot more this season.

“We’ve needed a mentality of more than just shooting the three,” he said. “It’s driving the ball, passing, getting layups and transition buckets.”

Those facets of ruing an offense are why Miller is hoping to have a big impact on this Saturday’s championship game.

“I think everyone is looking at the matchup between the bigs,” she said. “But we want to do everything we can to win.”

There’s no doubt the headliners in the contest will be the post players: Clark and Jones against Chaminade’s Leoa Odom (a Duke signee) and Valarie Higgins (a USC signee). But of course with everyone’s attention focused on the bigs, that should give Miller, Jackson, and the rest of Poly’s talented backcourt some space to operate. After all, it’s been that way all season.

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