A young Archbishop Thomas Murphy girls basketball team looks to be wise beyond its years based on its perfect 7-0 preseason record.
The Wildcats, who only have a pair of seniors on a roster dominated by sophomores and freshmen, closed out their preseason schedule with a pair of easy victories at last week’s Lakewood holiday tournament and head into league play this week with plenty of high hopes.
“The kids have done very well,” said Archbishop Murphy coach Bill Kelley. “We’re young, no question about it. But we’ve got really good athletes. They may be the best athletes we’ve ever had.”
Two underclassmen are the leading scorers for the Wildcats. Sophomore center Lisa Coate is averaging 17.1 points and 15.1 rebounds per game and is shooting 61 percent from the field.
Freshman point guard Krista Eknes is averaging 15.1 points per game and is making 50 percent of her 2-point shots and 53 percent of her 3-pointers. Eknes shares the point guard duties with senior Jamie Lyons, who is scoring 9.1 points per game.
The most pleasant surprise of the season is the play of sophomore Loren Lasswell, who scored 14 points to lead help Archbishop Murphy to a 43-28 victory over Lakewood in the championship game of last week’s holiday tournament Dec. 30 at Lakewood High School.
Coate also finished with 14 points as the Wildcats seized control of a close game with a 19-10 third quarter performance.
“Krista is probably the best pure shooter we’ve ever had, especially from long range,” Kelley said. “People have to concentrate on her.”
As a freshman, Coate got most of her rebounds on the offensive end. This year she has become a force on the defensive boards.
Despite having a few individuals with sparkling statistics, the strong start to the season is a team effort, Kelley said.
“We have a great bunch of kids,” he said. “The group gets along well. They are in tremendous shape.”
The Wildcats like to play man-to-man defense and also try to run the fastbreak whenever the opportunity arises.
“It’s uptempo all the time,” Kelley said. “The kids just love it … they are athletic. They enjoy running. They enjoy conditioning.”
Though Archbishop Murphy lacks experience, the confidence level of the players is as high as it’s ever been.
“Our two seniors, Jamie and Ellie Frahm, are our two captains,” Kelley said. “We have a few juniors and none of the juniors are starters. It’s been basically freshmen and sophomores carrying the bulk of the load … they seem to be a rather fearless and confident group. As the season goes on, we’ll see how they respond. Their attitude is, ‘bring it on.’”
The Wildcats defeated Chimacum 72-40 in the tournament opener. Coate scored 23 points, while Eknes added 20.
Two of Archbishop Murphy’s seven non-league victories were against highly regarded Class B Darrington and Class 1A rival Life Christian.
“Both of those games were against very good teams,” Kelley said. “They were pretty good tests.”
Archbishop Murphy’s defense has been one of its strongest assets this season. The Wildcats are holding their opponents to 33 points and hope to cut the number to 30 by the end of the season, Kelly said.
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