MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — Don’t expect to hear any excuses from the Mountlake Terrace girls basketball team this season.
As far as coach Kim Stewart is concerned, the Hawks are playing in a no whining zone, even though they likely are facing an uphill battle in their quest to make it back to the district playoffs for a second straight year.
Consider the fact that Mountlake Terrace has only one returning senior.
Also consider the lack of returning varsity experience. Stewart estimates he’s got about two and a half players who have any significant varsity experience.
Doesn’t matter.
“We’re not going to make any excuses,” Stewart said. “Nobody is going to care if we’ve got only one senior. These kids know that they’ve got to step it up. We’ll put a good product out on the court every night … the kids will work hard.”
Stewart, Mountlake Terrace’s athletic director and an assistant boys basketball coach, is taking over on an interim basis for former coach Nick Greenwell, who left for the head job at Tumwater last spring. Stewart will coach the 2003-04 season while the school searches for a permanent replacement.
A new coach isn’t the only change the Hawks are undergoing.
While Greenwell favored a more deliberate style of offense, Stewart is directing his players to get out on the fastbreak and run.
“Greenwell was more of a slow down and set the offense coach and Stew is a run and gun and get the ball down the court (coach),” said senior forward Erin McEntire. “I think that’s going to work to our advantage because we are so quick.”
The change is a popular one among the players, though some of them probably don’t like having to run sprints at practice.
“It’s a lot more exciting,” McEntire said. “It takes a lot more conditioning and a lot more running, but I think we’re up for the challenge.”
Junior guard Ashley Grover likes the fast-paced offense Stewart favors.
“We set up an offense on our fastbreak,” she said. “Everything is based on our fastbreak. It’s nice.”
The transition to a fastbreak offense is an adjustment that is taking some time for the players to become fully comfortable with, Stewart added.
A quick perusal over the roster reveals that the Hawks don’t have much height. Their tallest player is 6 feet.
“We’ve got to kick the ball and go and make people run the court with us for four quarters,” Stewart said. “We’ve got to be able to sustain that for 32 minutes to be competitive.”
The Hawks are playing to their strengths.
“We’re not the biggest team in the league but we are quick,” McEntire said. “Our posts can get up and down the floor faster than most of the posts in Wesco, which is a good thing.”
One of those posts is freshman Tatiana Heck, who Stewart plans to start.
“I feel like she’s going to contribute quite a few points,” McEntire said. “She’s a strong player.”
Once the rest of the league catches on that the Hawks have a strong inside game, then they’ll kick it out to the guards, McEntire added.
“We have a strong shooting team,” she said. “I think that will be to our advantage.”
Last season, the Hawks advanced to the district playoffs for the first time since the late 1980s. Though only a handful of players are back from that team, the experience only bolsters everyone’s confidence.
The extra practices and playing two district playoff games is invaluable, Stewart said.
“We’re not talking about anything but getting to the next level, whatever that step is,” Stewart said. “If it’s the pigtail game, league, district tournament, whatever that might be … we’re going to get to something. That’s our goal.”
Some might consider a new coach putting in a new offensive system with mostly new players a recipe for disaster.
McEntire doesn’t see it that way.
Most of the team has played together at one time or another, she noted.
“Learning an all-new offense … is kind of helpful because none of us have learned (it) before,” McEntire said. “It’s all new this year, so we’re all learning at the same time and we help each other and make sure that everybody is understanding. And that’s why I think we work well together.”
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