Kharma Corral'd

By Glenn Nelson
HoopGurlz Publisher
Posted Tue, 09/25/2007 - 17:18 Snake-bit USC may have turned its luck, landing a top-flight point guard who hasn't shown her best on a national stage.

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STORY & PHOTOS BY GLENN NELSON

USC has had so much bad luck under Mark Trakh the past year or so, there virtually cannot be room for any more. The kharma has to reverse course.

Maybe it has, though it may not, at first glance, appear so.

Trakh just got a commitment from a point guard, Ashley Corral of Vancouver, Wash., who is wearing a protective boot on her left foot. Rather than the usual bad news for USC, the development, come December, will be a positive one, as Corral will be playing on a pair of healthy ankles for the first time since the ninth grade.

Corral had surgery to repair ligaments in her right ankle in August; she had the exact same surgery on her right ankle in March. Her surgeon said the ligaments have been stretched and partially torn for four years.

So, in Corral, ranked No. 23 overall in the HoopGurlz Hundred for the 2008 class, USC is betting on the come. The payoff could be huge.

"I will have a month longer with this one," Corral said of her rehabilitation. "I'm just going to practice and train that whole time. My upper-body strength is good now because that's all I've been able to lift. I'm going to work on getting quicker and faster.

"I hope my shooting is better. For the past four years, I have been leaning on a different foot, depending on which ankle felt better. Now maybe I can land with balance for a change. My main goal is to get better defensively. It's just hurt so bad stepping side to side. I know I have to improve on defense."

By the time Corral joins them in the fall of 2008, maybe the Trojans finally will be healthy and ready to roll. Their prize 2006 recruit, Jacki Gemelos, red-shirt last season after suffering a torn anterior-cruciate ligament and recently suffered yet another ACL injury. USC's prized 2007 recruit, Stefanie Gilbreath, also is sidelined with an ACL injury. Her sister, Briana, the 28th-ranked recruit in 2008, was Trakh's second commit in this class.

Corral essentially gave the nod to USC over Notre Dame, though she also took an official visit to Cal. She canceled trips to UCLA and Lousiville. Corral said she always wanted to play out of state, though the University of Washington briefly was in the mix while June Daugherty was head coach. Daugherty was replaced by former Duke assistant Tia Jackson and now is coaching at Washington State.

The 5-foot-9 lead guard was on an official visit to USC this past weekend with Ayana Dunning, the No. 2 post in the 2008 class, and Michelle Jenkins, the 94th overall prospect who was the Trojans' first verbal for 2008.

"I like the team that I chose, but I also looked at my schools and said if basketball was not an option, which one would fit best," said Corral, who plans to eventually study law. "USC just felt like the best fit for me."

Corral is the best floor general and pure point guard in her class, aspects she showed at USA Basketball's Youth Development Festival and the national Nike Skills Academy in spite of at least one bad wheel that prevented her from putting some of her best qualities on display. She surprised many at the Development Festival with some of the best long-distance shooting in Colorado Springs. However, she lacked her overdrive gear and penetrating ability all summer.

At Prairie High School, a powerhouse in the state of Washington, Corral has been an often-magical ballhandler and playmaker with scintillating skills in the open floor. She was not able to demonstrate much on a national stage. In Colorado Springs, in fact, she injured her left ankle, but bounced back to play in a tournament in Oregon City, then participate the next week at Nike Skills.

"USA Basketball was my first thing back and I didn't even get to practice much before," Corral said. "I was nervous about it. I knew I was going to be a little shy about being in the lane much. Then I was coming off the left ankle at Nike Skills. I was just sick of being nervous about hurting my ankles. That's why I decided to the surgery on my left one."

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Glenn Nelson is the founder and publisher of HoopGurlz.com. He is a member of the McDonald's All-American Selection Committee and SportsShooter.com (Click for Porfolio), Asian American Journalists Association, National Association of Photoshop Professionals, National Press Photographers Association and Online News Association. Glenn also founded and coached the Dragons and Northwest HoopGurlz select girl's basketball teams and previously was the editor-in-chief at Scout.com and a longtime, national-award-winning basketball columnist and writer for The Seattle Times. His work has appeared in several books and national magazines. He is co-author of "Rising Stars: The Ten Best Players in the NBA" (Rosen Publishing, 2002). For more on Glenn's World, click here. Glenn can be reached at glenn@hoopgurlz.com.

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