New coach, new style for Broncos

By: TOM SHANAHAN - For the North County Times | Sunday, July 23, 2006 7:56 PM PDT ∞

LA JOLLA ---- In the short but distinguished 16-season history of Rancho Bernardo High girls basketball, there was a period each year when legendary coach Peggy Brose blew her whistle to start practice and two or three 6-foot-plus girls would come running.

"Those days are gone," Brose said one night last winter after an exasperating loss during the Broncos' 16-12 season ---- a successful year at most schools, but a subpar record by Rancho Bernardo standards.

A lack of 6-footers isn't the reason Brose retired ---- she remains at the school as athletic director ---- but it is a characteristic Amy Peck inherits as the Broncos' second head coach. Peck, who played for Brose on the first of Rancho Bernardo's three CIF San Diego Section Division I championship teams in 1993, was an assistant for the past three years and teaches biology at the school.

"The (Rancho Bernardo) teams I played on were short and quick, so (Brose) had to adjust her game when she had all those tall girls," said Peck, who later played at UC San Diego. "Now we're getting back to the running game and playing a run-and-gun mentality."

The Broncos overcame their lack of a 6-footer in their final game of the four-day 20th annual San Diego Classic, defeating Bell Gardens of the Southern Section 39-28 on Sunday at UCSD's RIMAC Arena. Rancho Bernardo, which won its pool, placed 13th out of 128 teams in the 2A Division ---- the best San Diego Classic showing by a North County school.

"One of our goals for this tournament was to come in first in our pool," Peck said. "Those were good teams we saw the last couple of days."

Although Peck's lineup doesn't list a 6-footer, her Broncos play taller than they look. Three of her 5-11 players ---- juniors Nicole Pedrotti, Kaitlin Corrales and Sarah Paulson ---- are recent graduates of the Pete Newell Tall Women's Camp at Alliant International University. Newell, the basketball coaching legend, added his Tall Women's camp six years ago to complement his famed Big Man's Camp in Las Vegas.

"He taught us a lot of different moves and how to be strong with the ball," Pedrotti said of Newell.

But a 5-11 guard, sophomore Victoria Lippert, is another reason the Broncos play taller than they look because of the matchup problems she presents.

Lippert was the only freshman on the All-CIF team last year, when she was a second-team pick. She continues to show a game beyond her years, as she led the Broncos against Bell Gardens with 14 points, including three 3-point field goals.

Lippert hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the second half after Bell Gardens went on a 7-0 run to trim the Broncos' 14-point halftime lead to 28-18.

"We're looking forward to playing for Coach Peck," Lippert said. "I'm continuing to work on my ballhandling, passing and all of my game. Hopefully we'll improve on last year."