Here are 3 Washington high school girls basketball teams that should be getting more attention
Many of the 2022-23 preseason girls basketball favorites in Washington are rolling right along as the schedule hits the final few weeks of the regular season.
But a few teams have emerged seemingly out of nowhere to also chase playoff berths.
Here are three in-state girls programs that have been enjoying great success, but haven’t been getting a lot of publicity:
SEHOME MARINERS (2A)
Photo by Will Rice/Will Rice Photography
2022-23 record: 14-2
League standings: Third place in 3A/2A/1A Northwest Conference
Recent history: Team has had one winning season since 2017-18 – and hasn’t enjoyed this many victories in a season since 2011-12 (16-6).
Skinny: It’s a widely-known fact that the Northwest Conference is one of the toughest basketball conferences in Washington to make hay in.
And this winter, the Consensus was that Nooksack Valley and Lynden Christian – last year’s Class 1A Finalists – would tangle against for the state crown. And that Lynden and Burlington-Edison would be serious factors in the 2A ranks.
Sehome? Not a peep about.
Well, that is changing.
“When shots are falling, it’s pretty fun to watch,” Sehome Coach Kim Stensgar said. “And they really feed off each other.”
The sudden turnaround starts with Stensgar, who led the Mount Baker girls to the Class 1A title in 2017, defeating a young Hailey Van Lith and Cashmere in the WIAA finals.
But in 2000, after giving birth to the family’s second child, Stensgar took a sabbatical from coaching.
“That (1999-2000) year was a hard season to manage as a family,” Stensgar said. “But I knew I would want to get back into it.”
There was not only a PE/health teaching job open in the Bellingham School District – the coaching job at her alma mater (Stensgar is a 2005 Sehome graduate) was vacant. She was hired for both positions.
Immediately, Stensgar noticed “confidence issues” with her new players. During a game at the Gonzaga camp last summer, senior Maya Sargent missed a few shots, and the new Coach substituted her out.
“I sat next to her and I told her, ‘I believe in you,'” Stensgar said. “And she said, ‘Nobody has ever said that to me before.'”
Sehome has a deep and talented junior class, led by point guard Madi Cooper, who is a two-way playmaker. Emmy Hart isn’t big (5-3), but she lets it fly from the perimeter. She’s had three games with seven or more made 3-pointers.
Their biggest win came during the Lynden Girls Basketball Tournament – a 54-53 win over No. 4 WF West.
“It’s a group with potential that has been slept on,” Stensgar said.
Quotable: “I looked at the schedule and thought the best scenario was we’d be a 12- or 13-win team. We have 14 wins. At this point, we are playing with house money a little bit.” – Kim Stensgar, Sehome Coach
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SETON CATHOLIC COUGARS (1A)
Photo courtesy of Seton Catholic athletics
2022-23 record: 16-1
League standings: First place in 1A Trico
Recent history: Program has had five consecutive losing seasons, including one-win campaigns in 2017-18 (1-18) and 1-9 (spring 2021 Covid season).
Skinny: It’s never an easy task to Handicap the 1A Trico in girls basketball – and this winter was no exception.
Despite losing co-league MVP Kylee Stephens, La Center had Gianna D’Emilio back and could easily have gotten a majority nod. And Ella Zimmerman and Hannah Erwin could have given King’s Way Christian a few votes.
But Seton Catholic?
With three starters gone? No way.
Well, yes way.
It helped that the Cougars got Camas transfer Anna Mooney, who has been the league’s best playmaker (just had a triple-double Tuesday against La Center). And she knows how to win – she was part of two Papermakers’ state-tournament squads.
“She is one of those players who makes everyone better – a generational player,” Seton Catholic Coach Joe Potter said.
Mooney was also reunited with fellow senior guards Hannah Jo Hammerstrom and Kiera Williams, with whom she played club basketball years ago.
Potter admits the team’s strength of schedule hasn’t been overwhelming, but noted the Cougars are beating the same opponents who handed them losses a year ago.
And their 16 wins are already a school record.
“We are just coming together,” Potter said. “I don’t know how good we are. But it’s working.”
Quotable: “My sons keep telling me, ‘This team is better than you think it is.’ … and they are usually my biggest critics.” – Joe Potter, Seton Catholic Coach
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CLE ELUM-ROSLYN WARRIORS (2B)
Photo by Cassie Glondo
2022-23 record: 12-4
League standings: Second place in 2B Eastern Washington Athletic Conference (West)
Recent history: Team has had one winning season since 2017-18 – and hasn’t enjoyed this many victories in a season since 2011-12 (16-6).
Skinny: Vince Glondo has had an up-close view of some of the school’s glory years in girls basketball. It’s because his three sisters starred in the program (1990-2003), including Melissa, who was on the Warriors’ last state title-winning squad in 1993.
He knows what standard is acceptable around these parts.
“It goes back to watching them,” they said.
Now in his third season coaching the girls at his alma mater, this young group with no senior starters is trending upwards.
Glondo is starting to reap the benefits of the local club program he helped start called Upper Kittitas Basketball Club, which is now consistently feeding skilled players into both high school teams.
“We now have teams from eighth grade down for boys and girls,” Glondo said.
Glondo’s daughter, Gracie, runs the show as the starting point guard as a ninth grader. She is a rangy playmaker who is also a top track standout.
Gwen Ellison, a 6-foot-2 sophomore, gives the Cougars an interior presence – on both ends. She also has a 3-point shooting range.
Then there’s Nellie Nicholls, a 5-10 eighth grader whom Glondo can play all over. She is super athletic, and is one of the town’s standout soccer players in her age group.
The Warriors have wins over 2B EWAC West-leading Mabton and ranked 1B Yakama Tribal this season.
“The (Mabton win) was a turning point to our season,” Glondo said. “What it did was solidify what I tell the girls, and that is that your ceiling is high and you are good.”
Quotable: “We do some young-minded stuff … but then we will have games like (wins over Mabton, Yakama Tribal) that, and I know that’s what they can do.” – Vince Glondo, Cle Elum-Roslyn Coach
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(Featured photo by Will Rice/Will Rice Photography)
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