Prep Profile

Eric Smith Carli Smith

Valley Christian Valley Christian

Year: Junior Year: Freshman

Sport: Basketball Sport: Basketball

Position: Forward Position: Post

Last basketball season was a bit of a surreal time at Valley Christian.

The boys team qualified for its first State B Tournament, then nearly won the whole thing before falling to Chief Leschi of Puyallup 70-51 in the title game.

The girls team, coming off a 6-13 season in 1996-97, chose to play a junior varsity schedule rather than stumble against Bi-County League varsities.

So the private school in the Spokane Valley had a state-champion contender on one side and no team on the other.

‘Had’ is the key word, because the Panthers are offering a two-headed version this year.

Both teams are 2-0 in league play and tied for first place heading into this weekend.

The same family has provided the leading scorer and rebounder for both teams.

Junior Eric Smith has averaged nearly 20 points per game for the 4-0 boys. Freshman Carli Smith checks in at 17 points and 12 rebounds per game for the 3-1 girls.

“I’d like to say I taught her everything, but I don’t think I did,” Eric said.

The Smiths formerly attended St. Mary’s parochial school in the Valley. Eric transferred to VC four years ago, after hearing about the school’s strong points from teammate/classmate Jared Evans.

Carli spent sixth grade at McDonald Elementary before joining her brother at VC.

The final Smith, 13-year-old Kristen, also competes in basketball and could play one or two seasons with Carli.

VC’s boys are adjusting to the graduation of starters Michael Spuler, Brian Sears and Derek Sandin. Sandin and Sears gave VC strength inside, so the pressure is on Eric to stand tall at 6-foot-1 and a shade.

“He has a nose for the basket, and for where the ball will be coming off the rim,” said third-year Panthers coach Steve Altmeyer. “That’s a gift and he performs it very well.”

The Panthers boys have two seniors on their roster, including starting point guard Jeremy Decker. The girls are without a senior, with the majority of the team coming from the sophomore and freshman classes.

Carli said the girls keep their success in perspective, even a 48-45 win over Wilbur-Creston last Saturday at Wilbur. W-C, state runnerup the last two years, played the Panthers without all-stater Alyssa Erickson.

“We’re pretty excited but we don’t want to get our hopes up too high,” Carli said. “We’ll be excited to play Wilbur-Creston with Alyssa. We’ll have home court for that one.”

The 1996-97 girls started 4-1 before losing 12 of their final 14.

Eric also competes in soccer and baseball. Carli gave volleyball a try for the first time during the fall, and sprints in track and field.

Both teams play Davenport on Friday and Liberty on Tuesday in Bi-County games. The boys also have a league game Saturday against Christian Heritage, which doesn’t have a girls team.

But then again, neither did Valley Christian a year ago.