Whitworth Coach Discovers The Difference A Year Makes

Coaching is always a little bit easier when a team is winning. Trying to keep players’ heads up when things aren’t going like one might hope is another story.

Last year, the Whitworth Pirates and first-year coach Helen Higgs took the Northwest Conference by storm. They won the league’s regular season and postseason, and advanced to the second round of the NAIA Division II playoffs.

Almost a year later, the Pirates (3-12 overall, 1-4) are tied for last place in the league.

Whitworth suffered key losses from the 1994-95 team, namely Anette Sweeney and Kim McFadden. This year, the Pirates have a host of newcomers in the lineup who are trying to figure out their roles on the team.

“I think everybody is frustrated,” Higgs said. “We’ve lost some games we think we should have won. The focus last year was on X’s and O’s. This year, it’s an issue of, ‘What does it take to play consistently game-after-game?”’

With the exception of guard/forward Jennifer Tissue and center Sherri Northington, the Pirates tend to struggle.

“We haven’t gotten consistency. There’s a lot of youth and newness,” Higgs said.

And as players struggle to fill their roles, Higgs has taken on an anfamiliar role, a role she doesn’t necessarily feel comfortable with - the role of disciplinarian.

“I’ve never had to do this before,” Higgs said. “Because this team is young and makes more mistakes, I’ve found myself putting them on the line to run when they don’t box out in practice or when they fall asleep on defense and can’t keep with the player they are supposed to be guarding.

“I don’t like to do those things, but I have to because it’s about team accountability.”

Going into the season, the Pirates’ goal was to win the league once again. Higgs said she will talk to her team after this weekend’s road contests against Pacific Lutheran on Friday and Lewis & Clark on Saturday to re-evaluate those goals. Both games are at 6 p.m.

“I want to see where we stand after this weekend as far as that is concerned,” Higgs said. “Winning the league may be out of the question, but we’re only one game out of the final playoff spot.

“We’ll have to finish strong and get some road losses along the way because we’ve dropped two home conference games already.”

Meanwhile, the Community Colleges of Spokane is also struggling to find itself. Actually, head coach Bruce Johnson is struggling to find players who can stay healthy, eligible and on the team.

Freshman guard Tauni Marchand went down with a knee injury at the start of the season. Then sophomore guard Brandi Hurlbert, after becoming eligible after Christmas, went down with a knee injury in just her third game of the year at a tournament in San Diego.

At the same tournament, freshman guard Shannon Zahrowski suffered a serious knee injury. When the Sasquatch returned to town after the tournament, sophomore guard Camelia Bloom, a transfer from Whitworth who had started in 12 games, decided she no longer wanted to play basketball and quit the team.

Then Larissa Mackin became ineligible and Misty Stark has been in and out of the lineup due to a sprained ankle.

As a result, a team that is usually at the top of the NWAACC East standings is in the cellar. CCS is in next-to-last place in the Eastern Division with an overall record of 9-10 and 2-4 in conference.

“Needless to say, it’s hard to get anything going as far as continuity is concerned,” Johnson said. “We’re not the same team.”

It doesn’t get easier for the Sasquatch as far as the schedule goes either. CCS hosts Ricks College Friday night at 6 at Spokane Community College before hosting league rival Big Bend Saturday night at 6 at SCC.

Notes:

Washington State (12-4 overall, 3-2 Pac-10) returns to action tonight against California (5-10, 1-5) at Berkeley at 7:30. The Cougars then slide down the road to face conference leader and No. 6-ranked Stanford (13-2, 6-0) at Palo Alto on Saturday.

Eastern Washington (4-11, 2-1) is on the road for key games against Northern Arizona (7-9, 1-3) tonight at 6 and at Weber State (7-9, 1-3) Saturday night at 6. Idaho (2-1, 5-14) plays the same schools as Eastern on the road on opposite nights.

Gonzaga (3-13, 1-3) faces Portland (11-5, 2-2) Saturday afternoon at 5:15 on the Pilots’ home court.

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