Not only is she talented in basketball, but Candice Wiggins is a
Renaissance woman in other sports as well.
This past year she placed first in the long jump at the San
Diego Section Division II championships. She also guided La Jolla
Country Day to a Division IV runner-up finish in volleyball.
Despite her wide-ranging talents, Wiggins has made basketball
her top priority. Consequently, some top colleges, including
Stanford, USC, Texas, Connecticut and Arizona, are salivating over
her athletic ability.
Narrowing her list to three schools, one of them being UCLA,
Wiggins is still considering her options. “I wouldn’t
say that I have a clear “˜favorite’ because I like all
of the schools,” Wiggins said.
“It really will be a tough decision, but hopefully after
visiting each college, I will be able to make a good
choice.”
Wiggins is expecting to make an official visit to UCLA some time
early in October. She plans to make an announcement in late October
or early November at the latest.
“I love the UCLA coaching staff; they’re really
great,” Wiggins said. “Kathy (Olivier) is such a unique
coach, and her style and her charisma are one of a kind. You really
don’t see any other coach act the way she acts, really down
to earth.”
Despite sustaining a knee injury that resulted in arthroscopic
surgery, Wiggins has come back stronger than ever.
The 5-foot-11-inch guard helped the back-to-back Division V
champion Torres make the transition to Division IV this past year.
Averaging an impressive 30.2 points and 15 rebounds, Wiggins, along
with the rest of LJCD, posted a 27-5 record, which was capped off
with a runner-up finish in the Division IV California
Interscholastic Federation championship and a No. 6 state
ranking.
“Candice will have an immediate impact at the college
level,” Torres head coach Teri Bamford said. “She is a
complete player, a great leader, a fierce competitor and she knows
what it takes to win championships.”
Named to all-league teams, all-CIF teams, and the 2003
Union-Tribune San Diego Section Player of the Year for high school
basketball, the No. 9-ranked Wiggins was one of 200 players invited
to the Adidas Top Ten Girls All-American Basketball Camp in
suburban Atlanta. This past summer, Wiggins also took part in the
2003 USA Women’s Youth Development Festival where she was a
member of the West Team.
During the off-season, Wiggins has been preparing for the
upcoming season and the looming transition to college-level play by
feverishly working on her ball-handling skills and especially her
mid-range game.
“I have always been notorious for slashing to the basket,
so my junior year I really tried to perfect my outside range as
much as possible,” Wiggins said. “It’s still not where
I want it, but it really has gotten better, especially over the
summer.”