Archbishop Murphy girls basketball ‘trusts the process’

Published 9:20 am Friday, January 30, 2026

EVERETT — It all came down to Celine Wright on the free-throw line.

The Archbishop Murphy junior needed to sink two foul shots, with all eyes on her in the Holy Cross Hall gymnasium on Wednesday. Wright knocked down the first shot, but the second clanked off the rim and back to the court.

No, this was not a last-second miss that cost the Wildcats the game. This did not occur during any game to begin with. This was simply during practice, but there were still stakes.

Multiple times throughout practice, Archbishop Murphy coach Ebany Herd picks a player to attempt two free throws at the end of drills. Make both, and the team gets a water break before moving onto the next phase. Miss either one, and the team has to do a 10-second down-and-back sprint before the same player tries again.

After Wright’s miss, every player spread out across the baseline with 10 seconds placed on the scoreboard clock. On Herd’s whistle, the Wildcats hustled up and back before regrouping around Wright at the line.

“Might as well put 10 seconds on the clock,” Herd said playfully, which every girl on the court took exception to. It was harmless chirping, but it added some fuel to the fire.

Wright stepped up to the line and knocked down both free throws, allowing her teammates to grab their water bottles on the sidelines. Except for one person who stepped up to the baseline.

With the clock set to 10 seconds, Herd herself ran the length of the court, much to the satisfaction of her players. Smiling the entire stretch of the sprint, Herd leapt across the baseline on her return right before the clock ran out.

“I wanted to get them on her side,” Herd said, catching her breath as she walked back to the sideline. “That’s why I said that.”

That sequence more or less sums up the 15-4 Wildcats, who sit atop Wesco South 3A/2A with one game left in the regular season. A competitive practice environment sets the tone for what they bring on game days.

“We’re competitive,” Wright said. “We’re all diving for loose balls, and the communication level is top-tier. It has to be, because obviously we have Brooke (Blachly). We have Ashley (Fletcher). We have Kani (Cham), and so many other threats defensively and offensively that want to score the ball. And if you want to play, you have to play your best.”

It’s a winning formula. Archbishop Murphy has reached the 2A state quarterfinals in each of the past two seasons, and the team appears poised to enter the District 1 2A Tournament with a high seed once again.

As Wright said herself, the Wildcats possess plenty of threats up and down the lineup. Senior Brooke Blachly is one of the top scorers across all of Wesco, expected to reach 2,000 career points this season.

Automatic from behind the arc, Blachly creates space for post players like Wright and Cham to operate under the basket, while Fletcher plays a pivotal role on the wing. With a deep bench, Archbishop Murphy feels confident rolling out practically any combination of five players at any given time.

“Everyone’s just fighting with each other for playing time, but also in, like, a competitive, friendly manner,” Wright said. “And I feel like that really helped us in games and tight-knit situations to be able to push through.”

That said, there’s a hunger for the team to reach another level. The Wildcats reached the District 1 2A Championship game in each of the past two seasons, but lost to Lynden both times. In 2023, Archbishop Murphy fell to Lynden again, but in the semifinals, before missing out on a state berth in a 44-42 consolation loss to Sehome.

The freshmen and sophomores on those teams are now experienced upperclassmen. This year, the Wildcats won’t be satisfied with anything short of a district title.

“That’s our motivator this year,” Fletcher said. “To beat Lynden and get past the district championship. Even though we have three bids (to state) this year, we still want to make it to the district championship and bring back a banner.”

After starting the season 5-3, with all three losses to non-league opponents, Archbishop Murphy won 10 straight before losing to Meadowdale on Thursday in its first league loss of the season.

Those early defeats paved the way for a team that’s firing on all cylinders, despite the recent slip-up against a competitive Mavericks squad.

“I think everyone’s super locked in,” Herd said. “I think they trust the process. We’ve had a couple early losses, which obviously it would be great to have a perfect season, but not everyone has that. But I think you learn a lot from the losses, and I love that we got to learn from those losses early on, and just everyone’s just trusting the process.”

That process includes strict attention to detail in every aspect of practice. Herd plans every phase to the minute, keeping the clock running on the scoreboard to time every drill.

Whether the team is practicing shooting or running through their offensive plays and defensive alignments, execution is expected and effort is mandatory. If one player isn’t pulling their weight, the whole team feels the effect.

It’s an environment that fosters a unified group. One that rallies behind its teammates, whether players are uplifting someone who made a mistake or backing up someone receiving playful jabs from their coach. That closeness, paired with the talent and experience across the roster, has the Wildcats confident that they can set a new benchmark this postseason.

All that’s left is to prove they can.

“Off the court, we love each other, and I think on the court, you can see that,” Blachly said. “Our chemistry is together, and obviously we’ve been blessed with such a great team. (We’ve had) such a great coach over these past couple of years, and I think this year we have a real chance of making a deeper run.”