St. George’s boys, girls hoops teams intent on state

Tradition is defined as the process of passing on from generation to generation the customs, beliefs and stories of those who came previously.

It’s safe to say when the current generation of basketball players at St. George’s School started their careers; the tradition of playing for the Dragons was made clear.

“Early on, it was really apparent that winning is a huge deal here and basketball is a big thing,” said guard Miles Deife. “All the state championships the girls have won and the guys have been to are a huge part of basketball here. It’s something to look up to.”

“All my brothers and sisters played,” said center David Witherspoon. “My brothers always worked hard because they were undersized posts.

“My sister played in four state championship games.”

It’s no surprise winning is expected not only for the boys, but the girls as well. After winning state high school titles in 2002 and 2004, the Dragons failed to reach the state tournament last year and are hoping to change that this season.

“When I was a freshman, winning and going to state were sort of expected,” said senior captain Kerry Blake. “We had a couple of down years where we only went to league. It was sort of rough.

“Basically we’ve tried to let the freshmen know it’s not a given thing, not to take our success for granted and keep working hard. I think we lost sight of that a couple of years ago.”

Both boys and girls have the winning tradition back this season. The Dragon boys finished second in the Panorama League this year to Republic and have advanced to regionals after beating Selkirk last Saturday 52-44. Deife and Witherspoon have been joined by fellow senior forwards Tim Mackin and Matt Vaughn, as well as junior point guard Henry Butler, to form a tightly knit unit.

“No one really cares who gets the credit,” said St. George’s coach Ryan Peplinski. “We’ve had different guys step up each night.

“We have a lot of guys who can score, so we don’t really worry about anything but the win. A lot of that I think is maturity.

“A lot of these kids have played three years. We kind of had a gap in there with big numbers with two classes, so the younger kids were asked to do a lot early.

“No one really cares whose name gets in the paper, and they’ve really bought into that. They want to win.”

“Our team chemistry this year has been great,” Witherspoon said. “Last year we had some problems with people forming their own little cliques, but (this year) our team gets along great, and everyone likes each other and moves the ball well.

“We’ve got people who are skilled at every position. We have the three-point shots, the inside game and the drives, so we really click.”

The same could be said of the girls, who won the Panorama League in coach Allie Bailey’s second year. After losing to Reardan in the first round of the district tournament, St. George’s rebounded with three straight wins, including getting revenge on the Indians with a 62-59 win last Saturday.

Blake has been joined by fellow senior, guard Madisen Clark, junior guard Lauren Meyer, and freshman forward Lizzie McQuade and point guard Chessey Thomas, to help bring the winning ways back to St. George’s.

“Last year, it was my first year as a head coach, and I’m sure I made my fair share of mistakes,” said Bailey, who enjoyed a successful playing career of her own at Eastern Washington University. “We relied too heavily on our two seniors, and we had kids playing out of position.

“Having these younger kids come in that have played some basketball, and having a true point guard, have really helped us be successful. They all really want to play.

“I have seven kids who really want to be on the floor, and they work really hard in practice, and they want to get better..”

“Most of the games we have won or been successful in have been the games when we’ve played good team defense,” said Blake. “When we have a good defensive possession, it leads to fast breaks, and our confidence goes way up.

“I think it’s the most important thing for our team, defensive intensity and getting out in people’s faces.”

Both teams hope that the winning continues this week, as the two fight for a berth at the State 2B tournament.

“Defense is going to get us there – that and rebounding,” Peplinski said. “It seems that at the state and even districts and regional level, everyone can score. It’s who’s going to be tough defensively and who can stop people.”

“We’ve had kids sick, kids gone, kids ineligible, all of those things,” Bailey said. “Every single game has been a challenge for us because we’ve had to work with those different situations.

“I think it makes it easier for us going into the postseason in terms on not looking ahead because we’re going up against a very tough league.”