Posting strong numbers

First off, let’s get the name thing straight.

Public address announcers throughout the Greater Spokane League introduce Loree Hill as though her first name were spelled “Laurie.” They’re wrong. When a senior is in the midst of a breakout season, you don’t want to get her name wrong.

“Her name is pronounced L’ree (emphasis on the ree),” Central Valley High School girls basketball coach Freddie Rehkow explained. “They’re always getting it wrong. We kind of make a joke about it.”

There’s no joking about the way Hill plays for the Bears.

At 6-foot-2, the slender post moves like the guard she was way back in middle school and shoots with the confidence of a sharpshooter. From the inside and from long-range.

“I played a lot of guard in middle school,” Hill said. “Then I had a growth spurt and grew about four inches all at once. I was tall in middle school, but I wasn’t that tall – I outgrew a lot of my friends – and it changed my whole game.

“I think I’m half-and-half, half guard and half post. I have good ball-handling skills, and I think that helps you anywhere on the court.”

It takes a while to grow into a body that shoots skyward like that.

“I remember her being at least 6-1 when she was a freshman,” Rehkow said. “She was kind of on the gangly side.

“The thing about Loree is that, I believe, we’re only just beginning to scratch the surface of how good she can really be.”

Basketball coaches tend to be predictable when it comes to height. When you’re the tallest person on the team, you’re pretty much going to have to play in the low post. That’s where Hill has learned to play.

“She’s the only player I have that I see eye-to-eye with,” Rehkow laughed. “She’s worked hard to improve herself and this year she’s playing with a lot of confidence. She had a great summer and she’s stepped into a leadership role on this team and I think that’s given her even more confidence.”

Rehkow moved Hill into the starting lineup at the beginning of last year, but as the season progressed, her playing time diminished.

“She needed to get stronger,” he explained. “She would go get rebound after rebound, but they’d just take it away from her. She struggled with that. At the end of the season, (assistant coach) Judy (Walters) and I sat down with her, and we explained to her that she needed to get stronger.”

“They were always taking the ball away from me,” Hill said. “Especially those little guards. So I put in a lot of time in the weight room, and this year I’m holding onto so many more balls. It made a huge difference.”

Playing the low post means banging with opponents who out-weight Hill by significant amounts.

“That’s a challenge,” she said. “I just do what I can do. I’m not going to be able to push them around, but I can do things that they can’t. Making myself stronger has helped.

“I like playing in the post. It’s different, but it’s another part of the game that it’s good to know and understand.”

The improvement was apparent over the summer season.

“She had a huge summer,” Rehkow said. “Loree and Kelsey (Matthews) took on a real leadership role with this team as two of my three seniors. I think that’s given her a lot of confidence and it really shows.”

“I don’t think it’s something you can really choose to do,” Hill said. “I think being a leader is something you just have to do naturally. Kelsey and I used to talk about what we would do when we got to be seniors, but now that we’re here, it’s different.”

Hill’s game provides a great deal of leadership in its own right.

“She’s our second-leading scorer,” Rehkow said. “She’s averaging 9.6 points per game on a team where our leading scorer is averaging just over 11. She’s pulling down 6.7 rebounds per game and, best of all, she’s shooting 83 percent from the free throw line. Show me a post who’s shooting 83 percent from the line!”

Rehkow thinks those kinds of numbers, coupled with Hill’s guard-fueled skill set, will get the attention of college coaches.

“I would love to play college basketball somewhere,” Hill said. “I have started to hear from some coaches. Whitworth has talked to me, and I’ve talked with the coach at Spokane Falls. They’re all talking to me about playing on the outside, and that’s exciting.”

Rehkow said he’s surprised more coaches haven’t spotted Hill already, but is quick to add that they will find her before the season ends.

For her part, Hill plans to stay on the stage for as long as possible.

“Our goal with this team is to make it to state,” she said. “I know it’s a tough thing to do out of the GSL, but I believe this team can get there. We’re getting better every game, and we’re excited about the next couple months.”