SNOHOMISH — Because their parents are longtime friends, Madeline Smith and Madison Pollock have known each other longer than they can remember. Shaylee Harwood and Ellie Flitsch, meanwhile, got acquainted as fifth graders, and the four of them together have been teammates since middle school.
They are the seniors on the Snohomish High School girls basketball team and their bond is truly special. Indeed, their many shared experiences transcend basketball, although certainly there is also carryover to the court.
And if this story has a Cinderella-like ending, the four of them will wrap up their years together by doing something memorable at this week’s Class 4A state tournament in the Tacoma Dome.
“We’ve been together for so long and we’ve created so many memories up to this point,” Harwood said. If the Panthers can make a run at a state title, she went on, “it would mean so much to me. Next year we’re all going to college in different places, so it’d be so amazing and such a great ending to our basketball careers together if we could have that as our last memory.”
Said Flitsch: “We’ve grown up playing together and we’ve been hearing, ‘Oh, you guys could go somewhere in your senior year if you just work hard.’ We’ve been hearing that for so long … and it’s cool that it’s actually happening.”
According to Snohomish head coach Ken Roberts, the senior quartet is “a great group. They’re talented, they’re hard-working and they’re best friends. They’re all great kids on and off the court, and they’ve been fun to coach.”
Snohomish reached the state championship game in 2009, but over the next few years the program’s fortunes slipped. A lot of that was due to an absence of “buy-in by the full team,” Roberts said, and in 2012-13 “this group came into a culture that wasn’t as good as it had been … with what you need to do to be a Panther.”
“But these (four seniors) bought into it and I think they’ve really put our program in a good spot. Not only were we back last year and then this year, but they’ve done a great job of setting the tone from here on out,” he said.
The 6-foot-1 Smith, who has led Snohomish in scoring and rebounding each of the past four seasons, has been a big part of the revival. Likewise the 5-6 Harwood, who is “just amazing with how hard she works and what she does. Shaylee might be our most important player day in and day out.”
The 6-1 Pollock “is our most improved player,” he said, while the 6-2 Flitsch “is not concerned about herself at all. It’s team first.”
Put these four together with some talented younger players, and “we have eight solid kids that are ready to go play against anybody,” Roberts said.
Snohomish began its season with non-league games against Glacier Peak, Arlington and Lynnwood, all top contenders. The result was an early 0-3 record that was, Roberts said, disappointing but not a catastrophe.
“We knew we’d have a good team and we wanted to be tested (with a tough non-conference schedule),” he explained. “Yeah, you don’t like to lose games, but I care more about getting better in those games. I wanted to find out where our team was and the kids understood. They knew we were going to be fine.”
Indeed, Snohomish has since run off 20 consecutive victories, resulting in a 16-0 Wesco 4A record and league championship, a district title and a 53-40 victory over Gig Harbor in last weekend’s regional playoff game.
A year ago the Panthers advanced through the district tournament, but then lost their regional game. That outcome, Pollock said, “was depressing. I was really upset. We were one game away from getting to state and then the season was over, so it was really sad.
“But after that regional game,” she said, “the whole team knew that we had to go to state this year.”
Mission accomplished, though the end is still in sight for the team’s four seniors, which is something “I’ve tried to not think about,” Smith said. “I’ve been trying to just focus on our goal, which is to get to state and do well. But even if we end up doing better (at state) than expected, it’s still going to be sad. Even if it’s a happy sad, it’ll still be really sad.”
Given the camaraderie — not just among the seniors, but all the players on the roster — “this is like a dream team,” Smith added. “Not physically, but just on and off the court. I would assume other people would dream of having a team like this.”
As he looks forward to the next few days, Roberts knows his team’s path days will not be an easy one. Snohomish opens against Lewis and Clark on Thursday morning, “and it’ll be a good state tournament game. They’re a team that we can beat and they’re a team that can beat us.”
But on Saturday he hopes there will be a Cinderella-like ending. Because, Roberts said, “these seniors deserve to end their careers on a high note.”
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