Hatten, Falcons use disappointment for motivation

In the disappointment of an early-ending volleyball season, Abby Hatten and the Sprague-Harrington girls renewed their desire to make sure it wouldn’t happen again in basketball.

S-H is off to a great start this season, winning nine straight after an opening-season loss at Garfield-Palouse and leading the Bi-County League. But every time they take the floor, they remember the sour way the volleyball season ended, with two consecutive losses in districts after a perfect season.

“We know how it feels to lose when we know we can do better,” said Hatten, the team’s point guard, leading scorer and outside hitter during volleyball season. “We have mostly the same team, and we knew we could have done it there. We want to do it more now that we know how it feels to lose. There’s more urgency.”

Hatten is averaging 14.9 points a game, and scored 15 on Monday in the second-ranked Falcons’ 75-53 win over Almira/Coulee-Hartline, which put S-H alone in first place.

Head coach Ed Shields has given Hatten flexibility on the floor, which has paid off as she has increased her scoring average from 9.1 ppg last year.

“She’s our best perimeter shooter,” Shields said. “She loves to be able to create out on the floor, so we don’t hold her down. She’s having a really good year, which is the reason we’re successful.”

S-H hopes to continue its gradual improvement during Hatten’s stint as a Falcon. In 2002-03, her first full year on varsity, the Falcons advanced as far as districts before elimination. Last year, the Falcons made their first trip to the state tournament since 1998, knocked off King’s West in the first round, but then lost two straight and did not place.

“We definitely look at it as being our year,” Hatten said. “Hopefully we won’t have any problems. We have to be playing well when state rolls around and be up where we want to be.”

“We hope we can get through the process and we hope to be there on the last day,” Shields said. “We started out this year with only one goal, and that’s the gold ball. They are focused for it and ready, and when you hit playoff time, you have to be playing your best basketball. If we can do that, I think we’ll go far.”