Kentwood\u2019s girls basketball team<\/a> may look vulnerable.<\/p>\n<\/p>\nThere are seven sophomores on the roster. A new coach, Lisa Ashley, has taken over this season. And a trio of talented players \u2014 Courtney Johnson, Liz Mills and Kylie Huerta \u2014 graduated in the spring.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Yet, the Conquerors seem to be doing just fine, having tallied a 6-1 overall record and a 5-1 record in the South Puget Sound League North division as of Dec. 27.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year is a big change and we\u2019re a really young team,\u201d said senior point guard Maddison Rankin. \u201cI think people underestimated us and we\u2019re coming out on top.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Rankin credits Kentwood\u2019s early season success to a balanced squad that is \u201cteam oriented.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re friends,\u201d she said. \u201cWe get along really well. And our team is more well-rounded.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
In years past, scoring was driven by Huerta, who drove to the bucket as well took shots from the arc or created scoring opportunities for other players.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
This year, any player can score, Rankin said. Team captains Alexis Berrysmith and Jenny Johnson agreed.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Johnson, a 5-11 sophomore forward, learned how to win from her older sisters Courtney and Beth. When she and fellow sophomore Sarah Toeaina were in middle school, they were on the bench handing out towels and water bottles, taking in everything as the 2008-2009 team played to a 4A state title.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got to see all of their success,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
And last year, Johnson, who also plays soccer, had the opportunity to watch from the sidelines as Kentwood\u2019s girls squad took home a 4A state title on the pitch.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Toeaina, a hitter on the Conks volleyball squad knows a little something about tough competition as she played on a team that took eighth at state as a freshman and made it to the championship match little more than a month ago.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
So, while the team may seem young on paper, there\u2019s a lot more to Kentwood on and off the floor.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we have a good mix and the maturity comes out because we\u2019ve been playing together a long time,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cCoach Ashley was our assistant coach last year so she wasn\u2019t brand new. And I think we have really good team chemistry. We know each other so well (being young) plays a positive for us rather than a negative.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Berrysmith said the youth of the team has not only worked well in the short term, but, should serve the sophomore well long term too.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have more time to develop because they\u2019ll play together longer,\u201d Berrysmith said. \u201cIt\u2019s working out pretty good (now) because we have a lot of talent on the team. We\u2019re working pretty good as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Johnson explained the team is taking the season one game at a time. It\u2019s an approach that seems to be working.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
And playing the brand of basketball Kentwood, which has gone to the state tournament six straight years, is known for also seems to be working.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe liked to get out and run a lot,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cWe like to push the ball, get out on a fast break. That\u2019s what we like to do because that\u2019s Kentwood basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Rankin said the Conks have other strengths as a team.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cOur communication,\u201d Rankin said. \u201cOur ball management, the fact that we can really interchange on spots. We\u2019re working on everything, trying to get better as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Berrysmith added that the girls on the team have the right attitude. During practice Tuesday morning she pointed out that Rankin was making sure to keep it up and that you could hear her talking it up even then.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a lot of strengths,\u201d Berrysmith said. \u201cWe\u2019re good at lifting each other up and staying positive. Maddison and I are really trying to keep everybody pumped up. And our team has a little bit of everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
And that little bit of everything, on and off the floor, is what\u2019s catching opponents off guard.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though people have that idea (they\u2019re young), we can come out and prove them wrong,\u201d Berrysmith said. \u201cI know we can. Hopefully we can go to state and do something.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
First, though, is Kentwood\u2019s biggest test coming next week against Mount Rainier.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The Rams are favored to win the league and go to state.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Berrysmith said the Conquerors have a shot at proving the Rams aren\u2019t the only good team in the North.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we can hang with them,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to have to play a game based on defense. We\u2019re going to have to lock down everybody. We\u2019re going to have to match that on defense.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Even though Kentwood has had three coaches in the past five years, graduated top players who have gone on to play at the college level, the team has reloaded.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Some things never change.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
And Rankin said the sky is the limit.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can go as far as we want to go,\u201d she said. \u201cAs much as we want to put into it is what we\u2019ll get out.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On the surface, Kentwood\u2019s girls basketball team may look vulnerable.
\nThere are seven sophomores on the roster. A new coach, Lisa Ashley, has taken over this season. And a trio of talented players \u2014 Courtney Johnson, Liz Mills and Kylie Huerta \u2014 graduated in the spring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":15483,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-15482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15482"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15482"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=15482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}