Alisa "Scotty" Scott is all smiles outside the SCC gym, June 4, 2009.

Basketball has taken Alisa “Scotty” Scott literally around the world and now it has taken her to Shoreline Community College as the new head women’s basketball coach.

“I love basketball,” Scott said Thursday, June 4, 2009. “I’m a lifer as a coach.”

As a player, Scott is in the Hall of Fame at the University of Mississippi, where she played for Basketball Hall of Fame coach Van Chancellor. She became an assistant coach at Ole Miss followed by similar positions at University of Maryland and Old Dominion from 1992-98. She said her nickname came from her dorm mother at Ole Miss, playing off the “Star Trek” character’s name.

In 1998, Scott jumped to the professional ranks, joining the WNBA Houston Comets as an assistant. Scott was with Houston when the team won WNBA titles in 1998, ’99 and 2000. Scott left Houston to coach in Russia before coming to the WNBA’s Seattle Storm in 2008 as a scout. This past season, Scott coached at the private Overlake School in Redmond. In July, she’ll travel with Jamal Crawford’s Seattle Speed Elite AAU team to the AAU national tournament in Virginia in July.

“I’ve learned a lot from some of the best coaches and players in the world,” Scott said, clearly excited to apply those lessons from the head-coach role.

Athletic Director Doug Palmer said he’s pleased to have someone of Scott’s caliber leading the Shoreline Community College program. “Alisa brings a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience,” Palmer said. “I’m sure she’ll be a strong addition to the college.”

Scott said that while she adapts her coaching schemes to the athletes’ abilities, she does have certain things she likes.

“I prefer an up-tempo style,” Scott said. “You also have to be able to play half-court, be disciplined. I like continuity offense, getting some quick-hitters and some motion. But no matter what, I like to say there’s always some fight in the dog. We’ll always play hard.”

On defense, Scott said again she has preferences, but not to the detriment of the team.

“I like man-to-man, but not if it doesn’t fit the personnel,” she said, adding she’s seen teams who will continue to be beaten using one on one but then not make adjustments. “I won’t be afraid to change. Even when we play man-to-man, there’s a bit of zone to it, and a bit of man-to-man to our zone. Again, I like to say its 5 on 1 at all times.”

In 2008, Shoreline made another high-profile hire for the men’s coaching job, getting Butch Estes, who has NCAA Division 1 coaching experience. Scott said she’s excited to compare notes with Estes.

“At Old Dominion, we had a lot of support from the men’s side,” Scott said. “It’s great to have another opinion from a successful coach.”

Scott said that as a former player, she feels she’s a player’s coach.

“It’s important to be supportive of these players,” Scott said. “It’s like being a mom sometimes. It’s all about making good decisions. If you make good decision off the court, you’re more likely to make good decisions on the court.”

Taking over from interim coach Steve Eskridge, Scott acknowledges that she’s starting late in the recruiting game for next season, but that she’s going to work hard, along with leveraging her WNBA experience and connections

“I’m going to look at a lot of tape and I’m going to have to trust some people,” she said. On the WNBA side, her connections have already paid off with superstar Sheryl Swoopes among the half-dozen players who showed up Tuesday, June 2, for the first open gym session of the off-season. Sometimes called the Michael Jordan of the WNAB, Swoopes, who played for the Seattle Storm this past seson, was in the gym that day for shoot-arounds and pickup games.

“I imagine Sheryl will be participating in some more open gyms, probably along with some other WNBA players,” Scott said.

SCC/Jim Hills

Derek Witt has resigned as head coach of the Shoreline Community College women’s basketball team.

“I was offered a full-time position and with a baby due in May and my wife getting nervous, I just had to take it,” Witt said, noting that the position at SCC is part time. Witt said he’ll be representing a Buffalo, NY, advertising firm in the Northwest. “I’d been talking to them for a couple of weeks, but they called me Friday with an offer and I just had to take it.”

SCC Athletic Director Doug Palmer said he got a call Friday evening from Witt with the resignation news. “I want to thank Derek and wish him the best of luck,” Palmer said.

Taking over the reins as interim coach for the rest of this season will be a familiar face on the SCC basketball court, Steve Eskridge. A full-time college employee in the athletic department, Eskridge was head men’s coach for 14 years during which time the school won two divisional titles. This is his first time coaching a women’s team.

Eskridge has already coached his first game, Saturday, Jan 31, against Peninsula, a 71-42 loss.

“I met with the team Saturday (Jan. 31) afternoon,” Eskridge said. “I told them we’d work together as

 a team.” Eskridge added that he planned to install

 some basic offensive and defensive sets to use for the remaining games.

“When I saw this team in November, I thought there was the talent to play well,” he said. Despite injuries and player turnover, Eskridge said the team has the potential to win some more games this season. “I’m excited,” Eskridge said. “I missed the basketball.”

While the timing was tough, Palmer said he sees the change as positive for all parties. “Derek gets a full-time job and the team members get an experienced, supportive coach to continue in their efforts,” he said.

Witt came to SCC after women’s basketball was cancelled in the middle of the 2005-06 season due to too few players to continue. “The team went from no wins to five wins last year and eight so far this year with eight league games left to play,” Palmer said.

Before coming to SCC, Witt said he was at Peninsula Community College in Port Angeles for stints as women’s and men’s head coach. He also worked at community colleges in Kansas and Missouri. Also leaving SCC is Witt’s assistant coach, Scott Dwight. Second assistant Brieah Marion will continue working with the team.

After a tough loss on Saturday, Nov. 22, the Lady Dolphins came back out on Sunday and exploded for four goals in the first half to defeat Clackamas for third place in the NWAACC Women's Soccer Championship.

On Saturday, the SCC squad faced undefeated Walla Walla Community College in the semi-finals. WWCC came into the game with a 23-0-0 record on the season. Walla Walla scored a goal just 52 seconds into the match and that was the end of the scoring for the day. WWCC controlled the first half, as Shoreline struggled to cross the midfield line, but the Dolphin defense held firm against the much larger Walla Walla squad and went into halftime down by one goal.

The Lady Dolphins came out in the second half fired up and control the action from the start and put themselves into opportunities to score multiple times but could not put the ball into the goal.

On Sunday, Shoreline game out much fresher than Clackamas Community College from Oregon. The Lady Dolphins scored early and often and gained a bit of revenge from the 2007 NWAACC Championship, as Clackamas defeated Shoreline 2-1 in the semi-finals last year on the way to the NWAACC Championship.

Lacee Ross scored two goals for the Dolphins and Brittany Willis and Amber Vinegar added one each. Julee Thomas added an assistant as well.

SCC finished the season 19-2-2 (one defeat by forfeit) and third at the NWAACC Championship for the second year in a row.

The Lady Dolphin basketball team started its season off on a strong note, finishing second in the SCC Turkey Shoot Basketball Tournament.

On Friday, Nov. 21, SCC defeated Blue Mountain CC 71-62 and South Puget Sound CC in the quarterfinals and semi-finals but were defeated CC of Spokane 69-56 in the finals on Nov. 22. Spokane finished second last in the NWAACC Women's Basketball Championship.

In the final, the game was close until the final 5 minutes. Shoreline held a 49-43 lead with just under five minutes to play but Spokane went on a 22-0 run to capture the lead and put the game away.

Shoreline is now 2-1 on the season.