Pacifica Christian’s Lauryn Ham overcomes ‘sucker punch,’ PTSD, social media blitz to plant feet and fire away

Resilient sharpshooting guard doesn't make them all but she's popular with teammates, trains younger players and is queen of the bounce back

NEWPORT BEACH, CALIFORNIA – Lauryn Ham takes a pass from Caylie Villagrana at the left wing and fakes right. With her opponent off balance, she sets her feet and lets fly … swish!

It’s two more points for the Pacific Christian of Newport Beach senior basketball star. Ham is en route to a 14-point effort in a 51-33 win Nov. 29 against La Quinta. She also scores her 1,000th career point and afterward smiles for cell phone cameras.

Less than two weeks later, Ham makes her first shot against Edison of Huntington Beach. But other efforts clang off the rim or dip in and out. She settles for seven points in a 50-37 victory for Pacifica Christian. 

The Tritons (11-2) next play Wilson-Los Angeles (4-7) Wednesday in a tournament game at Whittier High. 

Such is the ebb and flow of prep basketball. There are peaks and valleys to the sport, and nobody knows this better than Ham. Three years ago, she was the victim of a so-called “sucker punch” in a travel league game, with the video going viral and creating a firestorm.

Lauryn Ham during a 42-25 win over Edison on Nov. 17 / Photo: John Murphy

Sucker punch

It is November of 2021. Autumn leaves crunch underfoot.

Ham plays a travel ball game at the Map Sports Facility in Garden Grove. A big forward for the opposing team attempts a deep 3-pointer and Ham and a teammate close out. Ham and the shooter's feet tangle and both fall down.  

“I closed out on her, and she landed, and we fell back,” Ham said. “I stood up and started going down court and I could hear someone from the stands yell, ‘Hit her for that.’ The next thing I knew I got a forearm across the neck, and I was on the ground.”

Ham goes down like a sack of flour and remains on the floor.

Her mother, Alice Ham, is at the American Sports Center in Anaheim watching her twin daughters Rachel and Olivia who are two years younger than Lauryn play a game.

“My husband (Patrick) was at a swim meet with my other son, so there weren’t enough parents to go around,” Alice said. “The mom yelled that she needed to hit her. My daughter heard it. So the girl turned around and just whaled on her. I was flabbergasted. It took time to process it.”

When Alice arrives at the Map facility, her daughter has a bag of ice and must be helped to the car. She is concussed and has a bruised neck.

The player who struck Ham is the daughter of a former National Basketball Association player. Her name did not appear in news reports because she is a minor.

Ham winds up in concussion protocol and misses school and the start of the Tritons’ 2021-2022 season. She is unable to focus on anything and languishes in a darkened room and tries to rest.

“It was a mental and emotional struggle,” Ham said. “I had PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and did not play basketball or go to school for a while.”

Alice Ham called it a “flash point for youth sports” with the video shown repeatedly on TV and going viral on the Internet.

The Triton player tries to recover and ignore the maelstrom.

“I was 15 and I tried my best to stay away from it all,” Ham said. “People were asking for interviews, but I was not in the right state of mind for all of that. I was not able to talk about it without crying until two years later.”

The Hams press charges, including the allegation that the player’s mom encouraged her to throw the punch. There are some financial and legal repercussions.

As for the player who threw the punch, she was young when the incident happened, and the act was not her idea. She plays now at an Inland Empire school and is reportedly doing well.

Lauryn Ham is one of the Tritons best ball-handlers and shooters / Photo: John Murphy

Battling

The 2021-2022 season was a challenge for Ham. Pacifica Christian was loaded with talent that year and won the section title. The sophomore didn’t start for a while and then word hit in the middle of the season the school was “parting ways” with coach James Parker. Chyanne Butler replaced Parker on an interim basis, then was succeeded in July of 2022 by current coach Pablo Martinez.

“That just added to the drama,” Ham said. “I was scared to return to basketball because I thought it might happen again. The first few games were hard for me, especially playing in that same gym.”

Ham fought her way back with the help of her family, the Pacifica Christian community, and a sports psychologist with whom she met weekly.

“There were certain things that triggered me to think about it,” she said. “It helped me to talk about it — like why it happened and how it wasn’t my fault.”

Lauryn Ham gets a fist bump from an Edison coach / Photo: John Murphy

Resilient

Two years later, Ham is still at it. Displaying her soft outside touch and natural instincts, she is second on her team in scoring, averaging 11.9 points per game. She also has a 4.5 grade point average.

“She has a lot of resilience,” Alice said. “That’s what I’m most proud of her for – her ability to bounce back.”

Known as “Lo” and “Hammy” and “Hamster” to her teammates, Ham is popular because of her wit and fun-loving nature, her mom said.

“She’s a foodie and she loves to try new spots,” Alice said. “And for the past year she’s trained younger girls and helped them with their basketball skills, and she enjoys that.”

Check out my 2021-2022 sophomore season highlights! pic.twitter.com/ZCSZGzWF5p

— Lauryn Ham (@laurynham10) May 18, 2022

Ham lit up when the topic of food arose.

“I love to try new places in my free time with my friends,” she said. “Japanese food is my favorite. I loved ramen and udon and sushi, but I love every kind of food.”

Ham wants to play NCAA Division III or NAIA college basketball, but at 5-feet, 4-inches tall, it’s an uphill battle. She thinks ethnic stereotyping is partially to blame. She is Korean and Chinese.

“Being Asian, physically I’m an undersized guard,” she said. “People have told me you better play tennis or swim. But that’s just fueled me. It fires me up and I always have a chip on my shoulder anyway to prove what I can do.”

(Photos below by John Murphy)

Photo: John Murphy

Photo: John Murphy

Photo: John Murphy

John Murphy is the sports editor for Century Group Media of Southern California. Follow him at @PrepDawg2.