Lakeside Takes Pride In Its Sister Act Lora, Brianne Jolley Instrumental In Getting Eagles To State A Tournament
One wears the determination on her face, the other on her sleeve.
One soothes, the other swells.
“Lora is more like the mother,” Lakeside girls’ basketball coach Lisa Schultz said. “She calms Brie down when she gets confused or excited.
“Brie gets more fired up and nervous. She’s the stereotype of a freshman, I guess you could say. They are both very supportive of each other.”
One is a junior guard, the other a freshman forward. But for Lora and Brianne Jolley, the differences end there. They share a common love for the game, competition and each other.
“I kind of take care of her in a way,” Lora said. “I have been there - being the freshman on varsity. It’s not easy. With girls, especially, it is a stressful situation. I just try to make sure she feels like she is included.”
Brianne has been included, seeing time in every game this year as the first player off the bench.
Two things have made the transition to high school basketball relatively easy for Brianne.
First, Eagles’ assistant coach Len Mortlock was her eighth grade coach.
And second? Her sister, of course.
“I usually take all of my frustrations out on her,” Brianne said. “That’s the good part about having a sister on the team. She knows that you are just doing that and she will still love you and you’re not mad at her really.
“She’s just somebody that I can talk to. I always get down on myself and when I get down she always tells me to keep my head up and keep going because everybody has bad days.”
There were a few, and not just for Brianne.
The Eagles struggled early, getting off to a 2-2 start. Lost to graduation was the scoring of first team all-leaguer Crystal Grubbs. Also missing was the rebounding of Kari McElroy, who graduated early to get married.
To make matters worse, Lora sprained an ankle in Game 6 and missed two games.
Sure, 1994-95 first team All-NEA selection and Player of the Year Stephanie Guenther was getting her points (averaging 18.4 per game), but something was missing.
“We struggled early with chemistry,” Schultz said. “When Lora came back, everything gelled.”
The Eagles ran off 12 straight league wins and four more playoff wins, giving Brianne her first chance at playing in the Tacoma Dome and the Class A state tournament and Lora her second when the Eagles (21-3) take on Charles Wright Academy (16-7) at 9 a.m. Wednesday.
The Tarriers, the No. 3 seed from the Nisqually Valley, are somewhat of a mystery.
“I called a lot of coaches and have not gotten a lot of information about them,” Schultz said. “Nobody seems to know too much about them.”
Riverside (19-5), the NEA’s No. 2 seed, and leading scorer Alana Carlander (17.2 ppg) will join Lakeside at the state tournament. The Rams will be tested early, drawing East Valley of Yakima (23-0) in a 6:30 p.m. start.
Part of the early-season chemistry problem at Lakeside may have been between sisters, Lora admitted.
“At the beginning of the season, it was kind of different to try to get along because you try to hold back what you say to your teammates,” Lora said. “But with your sister, you feel you can say anything. For a while, she took things personally, but after a while we kind of fit into our roles and she understood that I was a vocal leader.”
Now that they understand each other, things could not be better.
“I love it. I’m very thankful that I have gotten a chance to (play with her),” Lora said. “This is the first time we have gotten to play together on an organized team. We are going to share rooms (at state) with Steph (Guenther). Hopefully, we will get to next year, too.”
Lora is not the only one looking toward the future.
Schultz just about has Emily, the youngest Jolley sister at age 11, in her starting lineup.
“She’s only in elementary school, but she will be a great one,” Schultz said. “I think she will be a point guard if she doesn’t grow.”
Lora and Brianne come from a large and very athletic family. Besides the three sisters, six brothers call Terry “Dad” and Patti “Mom,” ranging in age from 6 to 18.
Terry Sr., was a standout wrestler and Patti a cheerleader at West Valley where the two met.
Terry Jr., the oldest of the siblings and a freshman on a wrestling scholarship at the University of Wyoming, followed in his father’s footsteps. He won a state wrestling title at 190 pounds last year at Lakeside and played offensive guard and defensive end for the football team.
“They’re very, very close,” Schultz said.
With only two years in age separating Lora and Brianne, they have always had someone around to play against and have taken full advantage, but ironically, not necessarily playing basketball.
“We never really played basketball that much, because we used to cause fights quite a bit,” Lora said with a hint of a giggle. “I have six brothers so we did a lot of the boys’ sports - football and wrestling.”
After years of fighting against each other during one-on-one battles, it was basketball that brought them closer.
“We’re really close lately,” Lora said. “The past six months, with basketball, we have been spending a lot of time together. We realize we share a lot of the same interests, so we spend a lot of time together.”
The highlight?
“One of the best things is when I’ll have an assist to her,” Lora said. “That’s the best, sister to sister.”
xxxx State A girls Wednesday’s openers at the Tacoma Dome Charles Wright (16-7) vs. Lakeside (21-3), 9 a.m. Riverside (19-5) vs. East Valley (Yakima) (23-0), 6:30 p.m.