Lawless-ness helps Eagles fly

West Valley girls basketball coach Lorin Carlon let slip a secret about his still-so-young Eagles the day before the team hit the road for the State Class 2A high school tournament, its first back-to-back state tournament appearance in school history.

“When the season started, I only had one player on this team who had a driver’s license,” he laughed. “A few of them got their license during the season. I think we’re up to four now.”

That lone player with state-approved ID at the start of the season was Nicki Lawless.

“Yeah, that’s me,” she grins. “I’ve been helping some of my teammates study for their written test.

“I’m looking forward to next year because I won’t always have to drive.”

But the junior guard’s importance on a state-bound team isn’t in her prowess behind the wheel. It’s been her ability to let it fly.

“Nicki has been a big part of our offense,” Carlon said. “When she’s shooting well from the outside teams can’t pack it in against our inside game.”

The sharpshooter has rained three-pointers all season. She opened the year by scoring 30 points in her first two games. She has scored in double figures 11 times this season and averages more than 9 points per game. Twice she’s pumped in 18 points.

For a team whose two tallest players, sophomores Shaniqua Nilles and Hannah Love, are physically better suited to play guard themselves, forcing a defense to spread the floor to defend against an outside threat is key.

“I’m 6-feet tall, but I’m not built to play in the post,” Nilles said after the Eagles clinched the district title. “On other teams I play guard, but since I’m the tallest player on this team I play inside.”

Lawless buried three clutch three-pointers in the District 7 2A championship game, including a huge trey in the final minute that put the Eagles up by five points against Pullman.

“I don’t think I’ve had a bigger shot than that one,” Lawless said. “I knew that one was going in as soon as I let it go. I just knew it was good.”

That hasn’t always been the case this season.

Lawless was held scoreless in back-to-back games this season, including an overtime loss to Pullman at West Valley.

“Nicki was in a slump for a while,” the coach said. “She had a game where she didn’t score a single point. After that her head went down, and you could really tell she was getting down on herself.

“I think she’s managed to shoot her way out of it.”

And that, Carlon said, is the only way for a shooter to get out of a slump.

“All shooters are streak shooters,” he explained. “They’re going to go through streaks where they can’t miss and streaks when they can’t hit a thing. You just have to keep shooting and have confidence that eventually they’ll go down. Keep shooting. So what if you have to put up 20 shots. If you make three or four, I’ll take that because it keeps the defense honest.”

That lesson took a while for Lawless to grasp.

“She took it pretty hard and by the time we got back to practice, she was doubting her own value to this team,” Carlon said. “I took her aside, and I said, ‘Nicki, have I ever told you not to shoot? You keep right on shooting.’”

With a string of playoff wins under their collective belts, the Eagles head off to state with a great deal of confidence.

“This team has a lot of confidence right now,” Lawless said. “We believe in each other. We trust one another. We just love playing together.”

Lawless was integral part of last year’s state team as a practice player, but was ineligible to play in games.

“It was a lot of fun watching last year’s team qualify for state,” she said. “I got to go along as a manager, but there was a lot of satisfaction in helping get them ready.

“But it’s a lot more fun going to state this year. I am excited about playing at state.”

A year ago, the Eagles final practice in the West Valley gym before heading off for Yakima was a hodgepodge of nerves and uncertainty – a not unexpected air for a team made up mostly of freshmen.

A year later found West Valley loose and relaxed.

The team laughed and joked with one another while getting in a solid review the various offensive and defensive plays.

“That’s the important thing about this team,” Lawless said. “We love playing together, and we love having fun together.”