King’s making strides this summer

Knights hope to bounce back from

7-15 season

By Tony Dondero

Enterprise reporter

It was a trying year for the King’s girls basketball team last year as a run of 15 consecutive state tournament berths came to an end.

The Knights struggled to a 7-15 record after a couple key returners chose to focus on volleyball

“Probably the thing I was most proud of was their perseverance to keep battling last year.” coach Eric Rasmussen said of the tough year.

The Knights are winless in the Shoreline Center Summer League but despite taking their lumps the team is improving, Rasmussen said.

“Getting to play a lot of kids and playing against good competition, that’s the thing we’re interested in during the summer,” he said. “We’re making strides, being more and more competitive as well.”

The top returners for King’s are 5-foot, 4-inch guard Kelli Cutright, a senior-to-be who averaged 6.2 points per game last year, and 5-7 forward Laura Friar, also a senior-to-be who averaged 6.2 points.

Also back are juniors-to-be Makenzie Taylor, a 5-9 guard who averaged 5.3 points, and Ali McConnaughey, a 5-9 forward who averaged 5.1 points.

Christina McCormick, a 5-7 sophomore-to-be, is an athletic guard and solid defender who adds depth.

After those players, the Knights have four or five players who will be vying for spots off the junior varsity.

Last year, King’s lost a lot of close games in league play before playing better in the second half.

“It’s obviously discouraging when we lose six games by five or six points or less,” Rasmussen said. “Our inablity to finish games, I think some of that was youth-related. So hopefully we’ve matured and we’ll be able to capitalize on the experience we got last year.”

Besides the summer league, the team particpated in the Northwest Basketball Camp held in Spangle outside of Spokane. The team “did very well,” there, Rasmussen said.

“I feel like the kids are pretty committed to improving and I think it was hard and frustrating for them last year as well,” he said. “I think they’re commmitted to improving on last year’s season and performance.”