Wildcats expect some growing pains

  • David Pan<br>Enterprise sports editor
  • Monday, March 3, 2008 11:42am

EVERETT — The Archbishop Murphy girls basketball team likely is going to take some lumps — at least at the start of the season.

The Wildcats lost all but one starter — sophomore guard Alyssa Smith — from last season’s state playoff team and second-year coach John Barhanovich describes the rest of the squad as largely young and inexperienced.

Coupled with a preseason schedule featuring higher quality 3A and 4A teams, Barhanovich admits he doesn’t quite know what to expect from his team early on.

“We’re going to be very young and the goal would be to be good at the end and get better as the season goes long,” he said.

But getting there is going to take some time and could involve some mishaps along on the way.

“At the beginning of the year, I’m not too sure if the wins and losses are going to be more important than the game experience and playing that kind of caliber basketball, which I think will help once we get to our league season,” Barhanovich said. “I’m going to have to let them have some growing pains as a coach. I’ve got to understand that a couple of nights the ball may fly out of bounds and I’ve got to be patient.”

As the lone returning full-time starter, Smith will be relied on for offense. Barhanovich expects the versatile guard to be one of the Wildcats’ main scoring threats.

He plans to use Smith in a variety of roles — from posting her up on the inside to shooting 3-pointers.

“We’re going to use her in our offense in a lot of different spots,” Barhanovich said. “Hopefully, she’ll be able to get her points in different ways for us. The rest of the scoring hopefully will come as a balanced group. I don’t think I need to get one kid to get 15, 20 points a night.”

Two returning players who saw significant playing time last season are senior guard Katy Westlund and senior center Kayelynne Huggins.

Barhanovich expects Westlund and Huggins to help usher the younger players along.

“They both bring experience and leadership to the basketball team,” he said. “They know the defense that we run, so they can help show the young kids in practice what we like to do. They’ll be counted on to provide leadership to the younger kids.”

Another leader is senior Alex Zitnki, who missed last year due to a knee injury. As of last week, Zitnki’s knee was still bothering her and her status for the season was unclear. But regardless, Barhanovich still sees a leadership role for Zitnki.

The cornerstone of Barhanovich’s program is an emphasis on defense.

Most of the time in practice is focused on working on defense, Westlund said.

“Defense is the primary goal,” she said. “If you can play defense, you can win basketball games … you don’t have to be able to score all the time as long as you can keep them (opponents) from scoring.”

One of Barhanovich’s goals is for Archbishop Murphy to hold the opposition to under 40 points.

“If I can get 45 points out of my club, we’ve got a good chance to win,” Barhanovich said.

How the Wildcats score those points may be somewhat different than last year. Archbishop Murphy lost most of its height and instead will emphasize its speed.

Archbishop Murphy will play at a higher tempo than last year and run the fast break more, Barhanovich said.

If the Wildcats are able to achieve their goals on defense, then Barhanovich expects that his team has enough athleticism to produce the points needed for wins.

“We have, on our team, enough scorers,” he said. “I’m thinking our group will be able to score. I’ve been very pleased with what I’ve seen so far, but again they’re young.”

Smith expects the scoring to be spread out.

“We’re going to need to work together as a team and distribute the ball to whoever is open,” she said. “Playing as a team is what is going to help us the most this year. One person isn’t going to do the job. It’s going to be a team effort.”

Ultimately, Archbishop Murphy’s season hinges on the development of the underclassmen, who largely have little varsity experience.

Huggins sees plenty of potential among the underclassmen.

“We’ll definitely be a younger team, but there’s a lot of talent,” she said. “We have a lot of freshmen who are looking good.”

Smith concurs and has confidence that when they are called upon to perform they will respond.

“Even though they don’t have as much experience we’re just going to have to trust them with the ball,” Smith said. “I’m sure they will do very well if given the chance.”

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