Clark Delivers Big In Lady Bears Title Chase Cv’s Sparkplug Has Bounced Back From Broken Ankle

Central Valley basketball player Ginger Clark would rather deliver a newspaper than see her name on the sports pages of one.

“I don’t care about the press or ink,” she said. “It’s more exciting when I see my teammates in the paper.”

Until the act of delivering the paper, that is, nearly prevented her from experiencing the joy of her teammates’ success.

Late last July, while completing a Spokesman-Review motor route at about 6 a.m. in Liberty Lake, Clark was involved in a near head-on auto accident.

She was pinned in her brother’s Audi, the left front tire in her lap and the metal wheel well smashed against her broken left ankle.

Firefighters needed the jaws of life to cut her free. Two fire engines on each side were used to pull the car apart.

“It could have been more serious than it was,” said Clark, who was not wearing a seat belt.

She remembers nothing of the accident, or the fact that teammate Jenny Coyle got there and was talking to her when her mother arrived.

Covered by a blanket while firefighters cut open the vehicle, her brother, Jason, thought she was dead.

Other than the ankle injury that required two screws to set, Clark’s only injuries were scratches on her shin and knee.

She missed the volleyball season and it took a while for her to gain back confidence on the basketball court.

“I could have been on the volleyball team but was so anxious to get back I reinjured my foot,” said Clark.

When the basketball season began, she was tentative.

“It was the first time I had run hard and didn’t want to injure it again,” she said. “It took a couple of weeks until I was back to my own self.”

Now playing as if the injury never occured, Clark has helped Central Valley to the verge of a Greater Spokane League championship.

A season-ending win tonight at North Central will give the Bears a piece of their first title since 1993, when her sister Jacque helped the unbeaten Bears to a state championship.

Clark does not consider herself a scorer. Indeed, she had no points Friday against Lewis and Clark.

Rather her contributions have come with defensive hustle and rebounding. She is also the team’s pick-me-up.

“I kind of try to be the one that gets our team going,” she said. “I try to be the sparkplug and do what others can’t.”

That meant taking control inside against Mead in the Feb. 4 win that put CV in title position, or the one who ran end line to end line disrupting the flow of Gonzaga Prep’s fast break last Tuesday to keep the Bears there.

“She’s done a good job,” said CV coach Dale Poffenroth. “She’s a hard-working kid.”

Clark is one of four third-year varsity letter winners.

Crystal Lee and Andrea Kallas are CV’s two leading scorers. The fourth, Marcy MacPhee, broke her leg in soccer and has not suited up this year.

They have been to regionals two previous years without qualifying for state. This year, says Clark, that can change.

“Going to state is our No. 1 goal,” she said. “We know it is realistic.”

Playing as a team, said Clark, is imperative if the goal is to be achieved because the Bears aren’t tall and have little depth.

“We’re at such a disadvantage we have to play good defense and outrun the opposing team,” she said.

Clark is the youngest in a family of seven children.

She took up basketball not because of her older sister, a senior player at the University of Arizona, but because it is fun.

The way Clark has played, having her name in the paper instead of delivering it, is apropos.

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