Timberwolves reload with plenty of youth

MILL CREEK

It’s a whole new ball game for the Jackson girls basketball team.

The graduation of Kristi Kingma, Ashly Bruns and Ashley Todd — three players who pretty much started all four years of their high school careers — has changed the landscape of the Timberwolves.

In its 57-48 season-opening victory over Lake Stevens last week, the Wolfpack had a pair of freshmen in the lineup and others who came in with little varsity experience.

“Although young, they are a talented group,” said Jackson coach Jeannie Thompson. “They’re showing a lot of growth already in the first couple of weeks, which is a good thing.”

The Jackson roster has no seniors but returns a pair of starters in junior guard/forward Chanel Sam and junior guard Erin Feeney. Sam played in the opener, but Feeney is out until mid-December due to a bout of mononucleosis.

Once Feeney is back, Thompson expects her to play an even larger role in the Jackson offense than she did last year.

“She’s worked really hard in the offseason and spent a lot of time playing,” Thompson said of the 5-foot-8 off-guard. “She’s become a lot more consistent with her jump shot and her ability to take the ball to the basket has improved as well. So she’s not as one-dimensional an offensive player as what she has been in the past.”

Of course, playing with Kingma and Bruns enabled Feeney to just sit back, spot up and drain shots from the outside, Thompson added.

Sam brings versatility to the Jackson lineup. She played a variety of roles in the win over the Vikings.

“I ran the point sometimes during the game,” the 5-9 guard/forward said. “We have a lot of point guards on our team this year and so not many posts. So I’m basically post through point guard.”

Thompson used three players at the point, starting with sophomore Megan McArthur. Freshman Mary Johnson and Sam then rotated in.

Junior Shalena Guzman also will figure into the mix once she returns from a sprained ankle.

“That position is kind of up in the air right now,” Thompson said. “We’re going on a week to week basis because of how young our team is.”

That is what makes the win over Lake Stevens so satisfying to Feeney, who watched from the bench.

“Just having them (younger players) step up and being able to score and help our team was a really big thing,” Feeney said. “To beat Lake Stevens, who we played last year for districts, was really cool.”

The freshmen naturally had some first-game jitters and the Wolfpack fell behind 15-9 in the first quarter.

“They were nervous but you could tell that they just needed to get it out of their system,” Feeney said. “The second quarter they improved a lot. … They were beating us and we came back.

“I think they realized it’s like any other game they’ve been playing their whole lives.”

Freshman center Kristin Stoffel led the Wolfpack with 13 points.

Thompson predicts a great future for the 5-11 post.

Steffel is smart and doesn’t get flustered, Thompson said.

“For being 5-11, she handles the ball well,” Thompson added. “She can finish around the basket. She is one of our best outside shooters.”

Thompson can envision playing Stoffel anywhere from the off-guard position to center. Stoffel could even run the point if necessary.

“She’s so multi-dimensional,” Thompson said. “She’s also a very good rebounder.”

With 6-1 Leigh-Ann Haataja, 6-0 Kallie Bylsma and Stoffel, Jackson can put out a decent sized lineup if Thompson so wishes.

“This is the first time in a long time that we’ve had height with more than one person,” Thompson said. “The nice thing is that we can actually work that in and not have to rely on the guard game as much. So if the shots aren’t falling, we can attack on the inside. … We were able to do some stuff in the post the last couple of years, but our kids were 5-8. Now the stuff we’re doing at the posts will be a better fit.”

Having such a young team had its disadvantages but there is the upside.

“The one thing that youth brings (is) you never know what you’re going to get on any given day when you have a youthful team,” Thompson said. “But on the flip side of that, the youth that we have are talented and they’re sound mentally, They’re mentally tough.”

Thompson hopes to be contending for another league title at the end of the season and she isn’t the only one who’s thinking that way.

“We’re shooting for a replay of last year,” Sam said. “Get to Wesco, Get to state and it’s attainable. … People saw that we’re coming out strong. We’re working towards where we were last year.”

Feeney agrees but the players needs to start working a little harder.

“I think people will look at us as being too young to compete with really good seniors, but we do have really have a talented group of girls,” Feeney said. “They’re really fun and we have a lot of fun at practice. But we do need to get serious and more focused if we want to compete with the Snohomishes.”