By RON BROCATO

Written for the LSWA

An assistant women's basketball coach from one of Louisiana's colleges went to the Sweet 16 State Tournament to determine whether her school would be interested in offering Singer guard Judy Clark a scholarship.

Clark has some good things going for her: incredible 46.7 point scoring average, outstanding ball-handling skills, and the ability to single-handedly take a team with far less talented players to a 30-6 record.

Clark also carried a stigma. She was a big fish in the state's smallest pond known as Class C, the lowest classification of high school athletics.

The point soon became moot for the scout as she was told by one of her colleagues. She was not only a day late and a nickel short, but Clark's team had been eliminated two days earlier.

To make matters worse, Clark had signed a scholarship with Northwestern State several months earlier.

What the coach missed out on was watching a player to whom the Louisiana Sports Writers awarded the first title of "Ms. Basketball"by acclamation during the All-State meetings.

Clark is a phenomenon. Lightly built, five-foot, six-inches,Minnie Pearl smile. Speaks in a monotone. Rations words. And shoots the hearts out of opponents.

In her team's last four games, Clark scored a basket about every 30 seconds. Her three performances leading into the Sweet 16 defeat to Dubach produced 60, 62 and 56 points. She was the only scoring threat on the floor in her only tournament appearance, scoring 46 points in defeat.

Clark's 36-inch vertical leap enabled her to shoot and rebound over her taller opponents. She had a penchant to drive to the goal,hang in the air, then change the position of the ball to get a better angle at the goal.

What's more amazing is that Clark did not, want to give up her dolls to play basketball.

"I was forced into playing by my mom," Clark said. "Basketball was not really on my mind when I was five (years old). But I joined the Singer Little Dribblers because that's what mom wanted."

Clark actually learned the rudiments of the game by participating in pick-up games against her older brothers and their male friends. She said she didn't mind the competition.

And the boys didn't mind Judy. In a short period time, she was one of the first players picked when choosing sides.

When Singer coach Edwin Kelly viewed Clark for the first time he saw around the rough edges and discovered a special athlete looking for direction.

"I started to work with Judy on communication skills and fundamentals, I watched her grow as a young woman and player, and when I saw her go up and down the court as a sixth grader, I thought she was better then the eighth graders I coached," Kelly said.

Clark scored 663 points in her freshman season for a Singer team that went 4-30. She was named district MVP, but Kelly did not let her accept the trophy.

"I didn't want her to feel she had achieved her main goal. I wanted her to stay focused," Kelly said.

As a sophomore, Clark poured in 835 points, a 26-point average. Again she was named MVP, but this time he was awarded the trophy.

As a junior, Clark's scoring rate climbed to 35.5 per game, and by the time her high school ended, Clark's grand scoring total numbered 4,285 points, a figure that ranks the Lady Hornet star second on the all-time girls high school scoring list.