Taken from the latest issue (Oct.) of Student Sports Magazine, editor Mark Tennis profiles one of the nation's best two-sport athletes, Candice Wiggins from San Diego, who's overcome personal tragedy to shine on two courts.
A Crucial Foul
She knew it as soon as the bump was felt and the whistle blew. The look on her face was one of anguish, her eyes were wide open and she had completely stopped her movement, just like a little kid caught with her hand in a cookie jar.
The bump was Candice trying to cut off a slashing forward from St. Marys of Stockton. That player, Dominique Banks, was having the month of her life, and had led St. Marys to a spot opposite La Jolla Country Day in last seasons Division IV state final.
The Torreys had been moved up a division by their section office after winning back-to-back Division V crowns and everyone knew that St. Marys had a team that could easily derail any plans for an LJCD four-peat in the Wiggins-Rivera era.
When the foul was called, it was still the third quarter, but it was the fifth of the game for Candice. She was gone, and although her teammates hung tough against a strong team, St. Marys went on to a 56-51 win. It was also Banks, not Candice, who had the monster outing. The 5-8 senior finished with 31 points and 17 rebounds. Candice was only able to knock down 17 points and had 11 rebounds.
That loss just killed all of us, Candice said. I shouldve given her (Banks) a little more room. I really hope to make up for it this year.
Some members of press row threw up their hands, too, about the officials calls that seemed to go against Wiggins. One line of thinking was that the referees just werent used to seeing anybody that quick on the floor and therefore didnt call the game properly.
That last foul was a foul, said longtime San Diego Union-Tribune prep writer Steve Brand. But the one before that wasnt. It was really a shame to see her season end like that.
Earlier in the season, Candice missed about a months worth of games with torn knee cartilage. The injury didnt occur on the basketball court, but was one of those tears that come from the straight up-and-down jumping of volleyball.
Candice suffered the injury practicing with her club team and it was a hot topic of conversation at the CIF State Federated Council meeting, which was going on in San Diego at the time. For a couple of weeks, the entire club vs. high school debate seemed to be centering on Candice.
The next injustice toward Wiggins didnt come from an official, but from Parade Magazine, which annually releases an All-American Girls Basketball Team that most prep writers around the country blindly accept as gospel truth, ignoring anybody elses selections.
Although Candice averaged 30.2 points per game with 15 rebounds per game and was chosen as the Union-Tribunes player of the year for a third straight season, a different player from the area, San Diego Highs Charde Houston, appeared on the Parade list. Candices name was absent, not even fourth team.
Wiggins also was nosed out in the Ms. Basketball State Player of the Year decision once again, this time by Banks as well as Wiley-Gatewood. Another of the finalists, Torrance Bishop Montgomerys Noelle Quinn, was considered behind Candice because Candice has outplayed Quinn all three times their teams have played each other. For the record, Candice says the winner should have been Quinn.
I just thought this year that Candice was cheated out of some things, Bamford said. But this year shes close to making some history. If she doesnt get what she deserves from Parade, McDonalds and others, than nobody ever deserves to get that type of recognition.
Houston, a 6-3 player who can shoot from the outside, is a good friend of Wiggins and theres some envy on both sides of the relationship. Houston would love to be on the type of team that Wiggins is on, competing for state titles and traveling to tournaments throughout the west, while Wiggins would love to be able to have one of those games in which the shackles are let loose.
Houston already has had a number of those games, including one last year of 71 points, and has been the state scoring leader for two straight seasons with averages well above 35 per game.
Both Houston and Wiggins have a chance to break the career state scoring record of 3,446 points set in 1982 by the legendary Cheryl Miller at Riverside Poly. Houston is only 646 points shy. Wiggins is another 200 or so behind that.
We get along so well and I think Charde is one of funniest people I know, Candice said. Her whole game is awesome. For her to be this good for the short amount of time that shes played is hard to believe.
Some college recruiting lists have Houston as high as the top five in the nation for the Class of 2004 with Wiggins lower. Brand, who has covered high school athletes in San Diego for more than 20 years and is perhaps the most respected prep writer in the state, thinks highly of both, but would rank Wiggins higher. Theres no better pure athlete Ive ever seen in this section,
Brand said. Candice could play for the softball team tomorrow and shed be brilliant. She could have 1,000 points or more in her career, but she rarely plays more than the first half, if that. And she isnt among the sections all-time assist leaders for nothing.
Wiggins and Houston probably were the top two players for the West team at the U.S. Olympic Festival last summer in Colorado Springs. Wiggins also joined her La Jolla Country Day teammates for a tournament in Oregon City, Oregon, and participated at the adidas Top 10 camp in Suwannee, Georgia.
The Best Athlete?
So is Candice Wiggins the best high school girls athlete in the nation this year? Shed laugh herself at such an assertion because shes seen Illinois basketball sensation Candace Parker up close and personal.
She can dunk and do what none of us other girls can do, Wiggins said. To be such an athletic tall girl and to have that soft touch is just so unique. The potential for her is scary.
But Parker, sadly, will probably miss the entire 2003-04 season with a knee injury she suffered in June. And when you look at what Wiggins has done in her second sport of volleyball, while Parker has been strictly basketball, the case for her gains merit.
On the volleyball court, Wiggins has had as many as 47 kills in one match. Her quickness at the net and the way she can cover so much space are the attributes volleyball coaches seem to point to the most.
With volleyball, its been funny, Wiggins said. I had played it at this little school as a high school freshman and in my sophomore year I was asked to try out for a club. I had never thought about playing at a higher level, but I took a chance and before I knew it here I was as a 14-year-old playing on a under-18 team.
Last summer, in between the basketball-oriented trips, Wiggins also traveled for volleyball. She played at the Volleyball Festival in Sacramento with her club team and attended a week-long camp at Sandpoint, Idaho.
As a college recruit in the sport, Wiggins was slotted at No. 29 in the nation by prepvolleyball.com. John Tawa, the editor of that website, has said that Candice might be as high as a top 10 national prospect if volleyball was her primary sport. Everyone knows basketball is more of a priority, so her volleyball recruiting ranking suffers a slight drop.
Wiggins continues to enjoy playing volleyball more and more each season and said she aims to play both volleyball and basketball in college.
Another Star on the Court
While Candices foul-marred outing at the state basketball finals last March left a sour taste in her mouth, the same day presented some sweetness for another Wiggins family member.
Her brothers team at Horizon of San Diego also had earned its way to a Division IV title game matchup. And like the supportive sister she is, Candice cheered happily behind the Horizon bench as Alan helped the Panthers to a 72-55 victory over Hercules. Alans rugged rebounding and inside intensity were one of the keys to his teams win.
The year before, Alan was a 6-6 junior at Poway High who averaged 19 points per game. But Angela noticed something was missing and got him into Horizon where he would be guided by coach Zack Jones, who had built a dominant program and who has played in the NBA.
At Horizon, Alans scoring average dropped by almost five points, but he was much better in other facets of his game, like rebounding and defense.
Before Alan even played a minute for Horizon, college coaches noticed a slightly taller (6-7) and more muscular Alan on the summer circuit. He became whats known, in recruiting world jargon, as a solid mid-major prospect.
This means that the Dukes and Kentuckys arent calling, but the Pepperdines, Utah States and USFs are. Alan signed with USF and after the season was over some were saying that Dons coach Phil Mathews got a steal.
He really blossomed this year at Horizon and if he continues what hes doing, Alan is going to be a terrific player in college, said Harold Abend, the San Diego Section correspondent last season for Cal-Hi Sports and who has covered CIF state championship events for more than 20 years. Angela did the right thing by sending him to Horizon.
College Finalists
This brings us to Candices own recruiting situation. Its going on hot-and-heavy at the time this story is being written, with some of the best womens basketball coaches in the nation coming to town for in-home visits.
Candice said in a recent phone interview that the final five colleges on her list were Stanford, UCLA, Duke, USC and Arizona. Two weeks earlier, she also mentioned Tennessee, Connecticut and Texas as possibilities with the other five.
With Alan just up the road in San Francisco and with its tradition of having very successful volleyball-basketball athletes, two of the most recent being Kristin Folkl and Lindsey Yamasaki, Stanford would seem to be the favorite and Candice didnt deny it.
I really do like both of the L.A. schools and Im seriously looking at both of them, she said. I am leaning to go there (Stanford), but its not set in stone. I have to see everything and collect everything and then go from there.
By the end of September, Candice was planning to have completed all of her official campus visits, and said shed like to make an Octoberish decision.
Photo Shoot
As the California sun dipped behind a mountain to the west of the sprawling Rancho Capistrano Conference Center, the 12 best high school quarterbacks in the nation came out of a portable classroom and started walking back to their rooms.
A few of them then noticed, with jaws ajar, a girl who looked like a fashion model being photographed just a few feet from the classroom.
Whos that? one of the quarterbacks asked.
Thats Candice Wiggins, said a writer. Shes one of the top girls basketball players in the nation.
For most of the poses in the shoot, Candice wore tight blue jeans and an authentic San Diego Padres uniform, but cut long, like a dress. The number on the jersey was 19, same as Tony Gwynns. Someone then asked Angela about that number and she talked about how her family and the Gwynns have always been close. We dont want to get too personal, but lets just add that one of Tonys sons and Angelas oldest daughter, Cassandra, have been more than just friends.
The Rancho Capistrano site was chosen for Candices cover shoot since it was only a short drive northward from the Wiggins family home in northern San Diego County.
Bamford drove her red SUV and brought up Candice and Angela. It also was where the EA Sports Elite 11 Quarterback Camp was going on and that meant that noted photographer Tom Hauck would be available to shoot the cover for Candice as well as one that was planned the same day for one of the quarterbacks.
Hauck is an award-winning photographer and is responsible for all of the covers for the Student Sports/Sporting News High School Football annuals.
After all the rolls of film were used, Candice, her coach and her mother were treated to dinner at a Mexican restaurant where the first interviews for the story were done. Some of the more delicate questions, especially the ones involving her father, were left for phone calls at a later date where Candice and her mother could speak from the comfort of their home and not in a public place while rolling up another fajita.
Near the end of the last phone interview, Angela couldnt help but think about her late husband.
When I found out that Candice was going to be on your cover, it just made my day, Angela said. It was like a pay day for all that I went through and for all that Alan went through. Once he sees this, hes going to be up there with a big smile on his face.
And if somehow and someway Alan has been able to see all thats happened with his youngest daughter -- and all his other children, for that matter -- hes been up there with a big smile on his face for a long time.
Mark Tennis has been the executive editor of Student Sports Inc. since the companys inception in 1993. He has been the editor of Cal-Hi Sports and CalHiSports.com for 25 years.