The biggest insult is not even being recognized.
“Which team are you again,” people always questioned.
Five girls remain from the team which stepped on the shiny new high school campus in Snohomish that was dubbed Glacier Peak. They wanted to make a name for themselves befo
re they left, or at least make a name for the girls basketball team.
On Friday night, three-year captain Becca Smith and firey point guard Katie Hawkins led the Grizzlies girls basketball team to an overtime upset victory over Shorecrest, a District 1 title and the school’s first trip to the
3A state tournament all in one.
Now maybe people around the state will get the name right.
“It’s been crazy because people still call us, ‘Glacier Park,’” said Smith, who is tied with Hawkins as the team’s high scorer at 12.5 points per game. “They don’t even know who we are. We are always the underdogs.”
The Grizzlies (14-9 overall, 8-6 league), who finished fifth in the Wesco 3A standings during the regular season, were the highest seed in all three games during the district tournament. First they took out No. 4 Meadowdale — a perennial girls hoops power — then Lynnwood and Shorecrest, which finished the season tied atop the league and made the 2010 state tournament.
“We’ve been the underdogs all along and finally we’ve been starting to prove ourselves,” Hawkins said.
The Grizzlies began the season 4-6 in part because of a non-conference slate that included losses to Class 4A teams Lake Stevens and Jackson, making Friday night’s celebration seem unlikely.
“We started a season with a gauntlet of hard teams,” coach Brian Hill said. “I thought, ‘Good golly we could start our season 0-10.’ We fought and we wanted to win games, but I think that makes you mentally stronger.”
Senior Olivia VanDlac and juniors Taylor Rasmussen and Torrey Hill have also been through all the ups and downs, including last year’s near miss when Lynnwood knocked the Grizzlies out in a winner-to-state, loser-out contest.
VanDlac converted arguably the biggest shot in Glacier Peak girls basketball history when she hit a layup as time expired to send the Shorecrest game to overtime and cap a double-digit comeback.
“I felt like I was in a dream,” said VanDlac who is third on the team in scoring.
It was a stark contrast from last year’s nightmare.
As the season wound down, current University of Washington forward Marjorie Heard, who as a senior captain was the team’s leading scorer, suffered a season-ending injury.
Suddenly what looked like a near-certain berth to the state tourney turned into a big question mark.
Though potentially disastrous for the 2010 state bid, Heard’s injury may have laid the foundation for the 2011 heroics.
“We had to go through those growing pains,” Hill said. “It makes you a better team for the next year. We had an opportunity to know what it was like to play without her last year and that gave us confidence this year.”
Memories of last year’s loss to Lynnwood fueled Glacier Peak’s upset of the Royals after losing both contests to them during the regular season.
“After we lost that game, we all remembered we were down on ourselves and we could hear them cheering in the locker room,” Hawkins said. “We all told ourselves that we would never let them do that to us again.”
This time the Grizzlies would send themselves to state by winning on Lynnwood’s home floor.
“We cheered our butts off (in the adjoining locker room) and they knew how it felt,” Hawkins said. “We just weren’t going to let that happen again.”
After being the underdog for years, the Grizzlies can finally exhale a bit. They get to play Mercer Island (17-11, third place Kingco 3A) in a non-elimination game at 7:30 p.m. at Marysville-Pilchuck High School in front of what should be a decidedly pro-Grizzly crowd since the Glacier Peak boys — also District champs — play later the same night.
Should they lose, they still have a chance to advance to Tacoma for the state quarterfinals, but will have to get through the winner of a contest between Lynnwood or a team from District 3/4.
Hill said he misses the environment in the Tacoma Dome that was the four-day, 16-team state tournament of old, but is eagerly preparing for the new 2011 version especially thanks to the positive buzz at the school.
“Last year, everyone was so excited about the boys (who finished fourth in state),” Hill said. “I teach at the school, so it’s neat. Everybody is around the hall excited about what’s going on and wanting to get out of school (to go to Tacoma).”
One win for both the boys and the girls and they head to the Tacoma Dome.
Don’t expect the locker room to be labeled “Glacier Park.” People should be expecting these underdogs.
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