Scotties well-prepared for tourneys

Sooner or later, high school basketball teams have to prove they can win on the road. District, regional and state tournaments all are held at neutral sites. To move on, teams have to prove they can play, and win, away from the friendly confines of their own gymnasium.

That being the case, the boys and girls teams at Freeman High have a leg up on the Class A competition. The Scotties have been road dogs all season long.

When the school year began, just about the only thing left standing at Freeman High School was the gymnasium. Construction crews busily worked to erect a school to go with that gym, forcing the high school and middle school to move in together for the year. And with the gym an island in the middle of a construction zone, the Scotties were without a home court.

To the rescue came the Spokane Valley Hub, the sports complex in Liberty Lake that boasts five full-size basketball courts.

“The Hub has been great, and I appreciate our athletics director, Brian (Parisotto), and our principal, Dave (Smith), for working things out so we could use that facility this season,” boys coach Bill Bland said.

“The Hub was willing to work with us and with our budget to make everything work,” second-year girls coach Ashlee Taylor said.

The Hub was more than a practice facility. It’s been the Scotties’ home court all season as well – officially becoming the team’s home away from home.

“I think our fans have handled things pretty well,” Taylor said. “In fact, I think it’s even encouraged more extended family to come out and watch us play because a lot of us have family in Spokane and the Hub is actually closer than coming out to Freeman to watch us play.”

Not that the change of venue hasn’t required adjustment.

“For one thing, we don’t have lockers for the kids,” Bland said. “Everything they need they have to lug with them – clothes, books, they pack it all with them. But you know what? I haven’t heard a single complaint from anyone all year. They’ve been great about it.”

“I think it’s made me a little more patient,” Taylor said with a laugh. “I’m the type of person who likes to have everything organized and laid out. You can’t do that and I think it’s forced me to be a little more patient in making sure that we have everything we need when we need it.”

The shift in gym has done little to slow down either Freeman squad – in fact, you can easily say the road’s been particularly good to the Scotties. The boys enter this week’s Northeast A District tournament as the No. 1 seed after going 8-0 in league and 16-4 overall. The girls program finished tied with Lakeside for first place in league, but lost the coin flip and will enter the district tournament as the No. 2 seed. Both programs are among the state’s top 10 ranked teams – the boys are ranked 10th; the girls fourth.

Each opened the tournament Friday night with first-round games at Mead High School.

“Well, this year I know where Mead High School is,” the second-year boys coach said, laughing.

The Scotties boys are aiming to return to the state Class 1A tournament after missing a trip to Yakima for only the second time since 1999 a year ago. The team boasts five seniors and a strong supporting cast that rebounded well after dropping three of its first four games in a tough non-conference schedule.

After beating Kellogg in the season opener, the Scotties fell to Class 2A Cheney, three-time defending Class 2B champion Northwest Christian and Caribou Trail League rival Lake Roosevelt before rolling off four straight wins over teams from the Class 2A Great Northern League.

“As a coach, you like to think that your team is playing its best basketball this time of year,” the veteran coach said. “I think if you asked our players what they know now that they didn’t know at the start of the season, I think they’d say they know how to win close games. I think our roles are more clearly defined now and I think we’ve learned the importance of making the most out of each possession.”

A year ago Taylor led the Scotties to a 26-1 record and a third-place state trophy and still finished the season disappointed. Her Scotties lost to eventual state champion Seattle Christian, 43-42 on a free throw with no time remaining in the semifinal.

For a coach who is just 22 years old herself, Taylor has made a big splash thus far in her coaching career – posting a career mark of 41-2 with games remaining to be played in her second season.

Taylor and the Scotties lost their first league game in two seasons when Lakeside posted a 54-47 victory at the Hub last month.

“I hate losing, I really do,” Taylor said. “But I think losing that game helped make us a better team. We came out and did a much better job when we played them at their place.”

The teams are seeded to meet for the third time in the district final – only this time there will be more than bragging rights and a regional top seed on the line. Whichever team wins Friday night at Mead can book their hotel reservations for Yakima early.

“It makes it one less game for teams to play and I like that,” Taylor said. “If you go back and look, someone always seems to get hurt in that extra game – it happened to Lakeside last year. (Then junior) Carly Heinen rolled her ankle two years ago in that game. She came back and played at state, but she wasn’t at 100 percent by any means.

“You will still play the No. 1 seed from the Caribou Trail League in the regional, but that will be just a seeding game to see who goes as No. 1.”