Scotties turn to Taylor

No matter how you figure it, Ashlee Taylor has big shoes to fill.

The first-year girls coach at Freeman takes over for 6-foot-10 gentle giant Matt Gregg, who resigned to take over the women’s basketball program at Warner Pacific College in Portland.

In literal terms, Gregg’s sneakers almost qualify for their own ZIP code. In figurative terms, his five seasons saw the Scotties post a 103-24 record and qualify for the state tournament three times – coming away not only with the school’s only three state trophies by finishing second (2005), fourth (2006) and fifth (2008), but earning its only victories at a state tournament.

Taylor was an integral part of the Gregg era at Freeman. She played for him for two seasons. For the past two she’s been his assistant coach.

“I think we all knew that Matt was going to move on one day because he has so much basketball knowledge and has so much more that he wants to accomplish,” Taylor said. “But at the same time, we never really expected it to happen. When Warner Pacific hired him, it was kind of late and this whole (hiring) process was kind of a whirlwind.

“He still calls to check in on us and see how we’re doing. And when Warner Pacific played at Eastern Washington, the whole team was there to cheer him on.”

Taylor was a junior at Freeman when Gregg took over the program and, as a senior, an important part of the 2005 team that entered the State 1A tournament ranked No. 1 in the state and reached the championship game before falling to league rival Colfax.

She was named to that year’s all-tournament second team. Nobody who watched her play that title game will question her dedication or her desire. Playing with severe shin splints in both legs, she battled through the pain. Anyone who looked closely as she charged up and down the court saw a steady stream of tears dripping from a clenched jaw.

Even before her first season playing at Community Colleges of Spokane was over, Taylor already was back on the sidelines at her alma mater, first coaching the school’s C squad for Gregg, then moving up to coach last year’s junior varsity.

“I knew I couldn’t keep playing because of injuries,” she said. “I still had a sister playing on the team and I really wanted to help the program.”

Now, starting her fourth basketball season since graduating from Freeman, she is her alma mater’s head coach. The Scotties likely will boast the youngest coaching staff in the country. Assistant coach Kaila Floyd also graduated in 2005 and played her final high school game in that year’s state championship game.

“We’re still going to be the same kind of a team that we’ve always been,” Taylor said. “We’re still a team that will pride itself on playing great defense night in and night out. There will be some new wrinkles here and there, though. There are some things that I like to do and some things that I’ve learned along the way that I believe will work for us.”

They certainly worked the first time out. The Scotties crushed Kellogg 74-13 in their season opener.

Sophomore MacKenzie Taylor, the coach’s sister, pumped in 25 points to lead all scorers while last year’s league co-MVP, Carley Heinen, dished off nine assists and added another 14 points. Heinen missed last year’s state tournament after spraining an ankle in the regional semifinal.

“I was happy with the scoring, sure,” Taylor said. “But what I was especially proud of was the way we played defense. I’m really excited to see how we do against Cheney and some of the other, bigger teams we have on our schedule. And we’re really excited about going down (to Yakima’s Sun Dome) for the Tourney Town Tournament – this is the first time we’ve been invited for that tournament.”