Expectations rising for veteran Terrace

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — Success hasn’t spoiled the Mountlake Terrace girls basketball team but it sure has whetted the Hawks’ appetite for more.

The last two years the playoff race has gone down to the last week of the season and Mountlake Terrace has snuck into the postseason as one of the two teams that play off in the conference’s pigtail contest.

Last season, Lake Stevens defeated Mountlake Terrace to earn a bid to the district tournament. Two years ago, the Hawks won their pigtail game and advanced to the district tournament.

“We’re tired of the pigtails,” said first-year coach Deidra Ducheane, who previously was the Hawks’ junior varsity coach. “We would really like to get in there solidly.”

Such higher expectations appear to be fully warranted this season as Mountlake Terrace graduated only one player from last year’s team.

The Hawks should be able to overcome the loss of Erin McEntire, who averaged a team-high 13.5 points per game.

“We’re transitioning well,” senior point guard Ashley Grover said. “She (McEntire) was one of our impact players … I think we have enough people that can take over that responsibility.”

Grover doesn’t see the district playoffs as the team’s ultimate objective this season.

“Our goal is to go past the (district) playoffs because we’ve been there before,” Grover said. “We need to go to the next level and step it up a bit.”

Having played with each other for such a long time means that the Hawks already are a cohesive unit coming into the season.

Team chemistry should be a strength.

“We know everything about each other,” Grover said. “We bond really well. We already have that down. Most teams it takes about half the season to do that. We already have that.”

Even though Ducheane is actually the third coach for some of the players, she has brought a sense of stability to the program.

In addition to coaching the junior varsity squad, Ducheane was the varsity team’s strength training coach. Ducheane also coached many of her current players, who were on her AAU or club teams.

What’s impressed Ducheane the most is her players’ willingness to accept her input.

“They’ve gone through a couple of coaches. Some of these players have had three coaches their four years they’ve been here,” Ducheane said. “Just the ability to make changes and make them quickly and be adaptive is really positive for me.”

Last year, the Hawks switched to a faster paced running style of game and Ducheane has no plans to make any changes.

“I don’t like for them to have to stop and think about a play,” Ducheane said. “If we can go and run, we want to go and run.”

Instead of having to spend time learning new plays or getting to know new players, Mountlake Terrace has been spending much of its time on conditioning with the goal of being able to run an even faster-paced game.

“This year she expects more (out of us),” said sophomore center Tatiana Heck said. “She’s giving us more and it’s helping us out a lot.”

Grover will run the point and be backed up by junior Kerstin Torrescano. Ducheane expects the points to come from a variety of sources, including junior guard Nicki Mosman, junior guard Jill Russell, senior guard Erica Cumbee and Heck.

“We have really strong role players on this team that are capable of scoring at any given time,” Ducheane said. “They’ve worked real hard on that in the offseason to all become offensive threats.”

Heck, who is a force in the middle, fits perfectly into the Hawks’ transition game. The 6-foot sophomore standout runs the floor well.

“Most of my transitions end up using our trailers, so she becomes one of our trailers,” Ducheane said. “She’s one of our first options. We use her presence and her size to actually push people out of the way and get down the lane and just clear some space. It also helps us open our shooters. They (defenders) just converge on her and she kicks it out as best she can. She’ll definitely have a huge role.”

Heck came through with a huge basket in Mountlake Terrace’s season-opening 61-59 victory over Lake Stevens Dec. 4 at Lake Stevens High School. Heck sank a 15-foot jump shot with eight seconds left in the game to lift the Hawks to the victory.

All the elements appear to be in place for Mountlake Terrace this season. All that’s needed is a little more time together and some additional conditioning.

“We want to challenge other teams to try and run with us,” Ducheane said. “Any team that has trust is going to be a solid team. We’ve been together long enough that I think we’re starting to develop a good base for that.”