Campfire Girls Gonzaga Women Unified After Weekend Retreat

Athletes often take part in camps.

But those are usually the pay-money-to-get-instruction kind of camps.

The Gonzaga women’s basketball team, meanwhile, will benefit from a pitch-the-tents-and-toast-marshmallows kind of camp.

Back in late September, without prompting from the coaching staff, the Bulldogs spent a weekend roughing it on the shore of Lake Coeur d’Alene.

They hashed out the disappointments of last season and drew up goals for this campaign.

And they came away with a unity forged by a campfire.

“It really brought us together,” senior center Amy Jo Silva said. “We talked about what we wanted to accomplish and we really got to know each other as people more than just basketball players.”

The benefits of such an outing may be hard to weigh, but Bulldogs coach Kellee Barney, entering her second season at GU, sees it as a good beginning.

“They set their own goals and when you can get that accomplished without the coaches having to step in, you’re well on the way to having good things happen,” Barney said.

“If I had to pinpoint one thing about this team, it would be that I think we have unity, we believe in each other and are willing to go out and work as a unit instead of as individuals.”

The coach, who in August married Michael Barney - now one of her assistants - had a rough initiation last year as the Bulldogs were among the West Coast Conference favorites but finished tied for sixth (9-17 overall and 4-10 in league).

“It’s hard to talk about even now,” Silva said. “We were chosen to win the conference and we had a hard time winning at all.”

Silva, a 6-3 center with considerable skills, will be one of the most important elements in the Bulldogs’ success this season.

Along with fellow seniors Joy Pauley and Heidi Phillips, she’ll be called upon to be a team leader.

And as the tallest Bulldog, she’ll also have to become more aggressive under the basket.

“She could be the West Coast Conference player of the year,” Barney said of Silva. “We’ve talked about it; if she would be aggressive all the time, with her height and her skills, nobody could stop her.

“But for her it’s mental; she has to be the one to pull the strings up there and she could make great things happen.”

Great things were certainly expected of Silva when UCLA signed her out of Ephrata High.

“I’m from Ephrata, where there’s only three stop lights, and I wanted to go to a larger city and a warmer climate,” Silva said of her decision to head South.

She played in 42 games in two years, but was slowed by mysterious health problems that were eventually discovered to have been caused by a softball-sized cyst on a kidney.

She has gone through six surgeries, she said, and still occasionally undergoes procedures to drain the cyst.

“They couldn’t figure it out; they first thought it was mono, or some sort of virus,” Silva said. “I practiced through it all and lost about 15 pounds.”

And after two years, Los Angeles lost its lustre.

“L.A. wasn’t what I thought it would be,” Silva said. “I was there during riots and floods and fires and earthquakes.”

The failing health of her mother, too, combined with a number of other factors to prompt her decision to come home.

“I knew I wanted to be closer to home and I knew Gonzaga was where I wanted to play,” she said. “Going to UCLA wasn’t a bad thing because it helps me appreciate Gonzaga and realize that bigger isn’t always better.”

All she needs now, according to Barney, is self-confidence.

Silva sees the relatively inexperienced Bulldogs benefiting from Barney’s stressing of fundamentals thus far in practices. “We’ve really gone back to basics, and that’s good, because we have some players who haven’t played in Division I yet,” Silva said.

Barney, herself, is having a tough time gauging the progress of her club.

“I think we’re good in some areas and not so good in others,” she said. “I think it’s going to be a question of who is going to step it up and get it done for us. We’re thin and small and we have to find somebody who will get it done.”

And if there’s one thing the Bulldogs decided on during that camping trip, Silva said, it’s this: “We feel like we have a lot to prove to everybody.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Gonzaga University The roster and schedule of the Gonzaga women’s basketball team, 9-17 overall last season, 4-10 in the West Coast Conference. Rosters Name Ht Position Year Hometown Lydia Ledgerwood 5-8 Guard Sophomore Klamath Falls, Ore. Heidi Phillips 6-0 Forward Senior Cranbrook, B.C. Rebekah Sherfey 5-7 Guard Freshman Duvall, Wash. Chelsea Herman 5-5 Guard Junior Bellevue, Wash. Tenille Jeffries 5-11 Forward Freshman Snohomish, Wash. Joy Pauley 6-0 Forward Senior Bellingham, Wash. Stacy Andrews 5-6 Guard Sophomore Arroyo Grande, Calif. Amy Jo Silva 6-3 Center Senior Ephrata, Wash. Sandy Gere 5-6 Guard Sophomore Ione, Wash. Nora Grasham 6-2 Center Freshman Portland Annette Steward 6-1 Center Junior Katy, Texas Regan McCliment 5-11 Forward Sophomore Spokane

Schedule Nov. 24-25 Cablevision Classic TBA Nov. 28 at Idaho 7 p.m. Nov. 30 at Eastern Washington 7 p.m. Dec. 6 Washington 7 p.m. Dec. 8 Utah 7 p.m. Dec. 11 Montana 7 p.m. Dec. 28 Idaho State 7 p.m. Dec. 31 at Boise State 1 p.m. Jan. 2 at Oregon 7 p.m. Jan. 6 Eastern Washington 7 p.m. Jan. 11 Santa Clara 7 p.m. Jan. 13 Saint Mary’s 7 p.m. Jan. 18 at San Diego 7 p.m. Jan. 20 at San Francisco 7 p.m. Jan. 24 Portland 5:15 p.m. Jan. 27 at Portland 5:15 p.m. Feb. 1 Loyola Marymount 7 p.m. Feb. 3 Pepperdine 7 p.m. Feb. 9 at Pepperdine 7 p.m. Feb. 10 at Loyola Marymount 7 p.m. Feb. 15 San Francisco 7 p.m. Feb. 17 San Diego 7 p.m. Feb. 23 at Saint Mary’s 7:30 p.m. Feb. 24 at Santa Clara 7:30 p.m. Feb. 29, March 1-2 WCC Tournament