A Junior Achievement for WV-Spokane

Group of 11th-graders lead unbeaten West Valley ||

YAKIMA, Wash. — Being unbeaten this deep into the season isn’t overly worrisome for Lorin Carlon, coach of Spokane’s West Valley High girls basketball team. It’s just a simple matter of staying loose and focused on the game at hand.

“This bunch really does stay loose and that’s a big help,” said Carlon, whose Eagles bring a 22-0 record to the SunDome for the Class 2A state tournament. “As coaches we use that, and remind them that the most important game is the next game.”

In a tournament as deep and loaded as many can remember in recent years, one would think a 22-0 team filled with juniors might be in for a rude awakening.

With these juniors, think again.

When they were mostly sophomores last year, the Eagles flew into the SunDome under the radar and quickly made a name for themselves with a third-place trophy, losing only to eventual champion Lynden in the semifinals.

Bouncing back from that semi loss, West Valley defeated Prosser 63-49 with all but four points coming from underclassmen.

“Prosser was an excellent team and for our kids to respond like that really carried into this season,” Carlon said.

The Eagles, led by the 6-foot junior tandem of Shanique Nilles and Hannah Love, has three wins over ’09 state placer Pullman, the most recent coming in the district final, 41-35.

“Every Pullman game came down to the last minute and a half,” Carlon noted. “The kids have shown they’re pretty tough in those situations. But there are so many good teams — Archbishop Murphy, River Ridge, Elma — they’re all very capable in my eyes.”

Archbishop Murphy (21-2) started the season with losses to 3A Mercer Island and 4A Kamiak and haven’t dropped one since.

The Wildcats were 26-0 last year before losing the state-title game to Lynden and they graduated three starters. But coach John Barhanovich reloaded with five senior starters, including college-bound Shelby Lyman (Cornell) and Samantha Pettinger (Pacific).

“They’re an experienced group and very unselfish — that’s been the driving force behind our record,” Barhanovich said. “We played extremely well in district and in the final (beating Burlington-Edison 53-43) I’m not sure if we played a better game all season. As a coach you wonder, can we keep that going?”

Trouble is, West Valley and Archbishop Murphy play in the final two games tonight, meaning they could meet in Thursday’s quarterfinals.

Which is good news for River Ridge (22-1), which plays in today’s 9 a.m. opener and resides in the opposite semifinal bracket from the evening heavyweights.

The Hawks, who were 2A state champs in 2007 and ‘08, started 18-0 before taking their lone loss of the season against Chehalis. River Ridge was 0-2 at state last year but returned all five starters under new coach Tom Kelly, who took over after 20 years at White Pass.

The fast-paced Hawks own three wins over Elma (19-4), which placed fourth last year and returns WSU-bound Brandi Thomas.