Lewis and Clark, University girls come away with lifelong lessons

TACOMA – It just didn’t seem right.

After all Lewis and Clark and University’s girls basketball teams had accomplished throughout the 2004-2005 season, it just didn’t seem right they would be playing for third place at state.

Not for the gold ball, not in front of a statewide TV audience, but at 3:30 in the afternoon before a nearly empty Tacoma Dome.

It was just seven days ago the two staged an incredible regional final at Gonzaga University’s McCarthey Center, an overtime game won by University. It was the Spokane area’s best high school game of the year, regardless of gender.

And it was less than 24 hours earlier the teams’ title dreams burst in state semifinal losses, the Tigers’ without a roar to Garfield, the Titans’ cut down by Snohomish’s 3-point barrage.

It just didn’t seem right.

Don’t get me wrong; Garfield and Snohomish both earned their wins Friday night. They were the better teams in the semifinals. And the Bulldogs are appropriate state champions.

But after three games the past month, the first before a sold-out University High crowd, the second a valiant upset by LC at district and the third …

The regional final made believers out of many boys basketball aficionados who usually wouldn’t give the girls game even grudging respect. The athleticism, the competitiveness, the fire the teams displayed on the GU court was eye-opening to many.

“The anticipation of that first game against Lewis and Clark really whet the community’s appetite for the games,” U-Hi coach Mark Stinson said Saturday. “The regional game wasn’t just good girls’ basketball; it was just good basketball. People came to understand that these girls play with heart, they play with passion and with well-developed skills.

“It bodes well for the future.”

At that time the future seemed to include the chance to meet for a fourth time, this one with the state title on the line. On the biggest stage the prep scene has to offer. That changed Friday night.

It just didn’t seem right.

But life has a funny way of not turning out like you expect, or dream, or maybe even deserve.

Each individual universe has a way of intersecting with others, and the Garfield and Snohomish girls dreamt of being in the state final as well.

It is their dreams that were realized Saturday night.

So does that make the Tigers and Titans failures?

Our society is usually quick to say yes. If you don’t finish first, you finished last.

Winning is important, yes, but the effort to get there is what really matters. And the journey the Titans and Tigers took to Tacoma, that’s where the lessons were learned – and taught.

“They didn’t take the loss as hard as I thought they would because, deep down, they felt the better team won,” LC coach Jim Redmon said. “We’ve always taught the kids that, if they leave it all on the floor and they don’t win, that’s OK. That’s what we did last night.

“They showed me they’ve got guts. I hope they carry that with them for future years.”

It’s that future Stinson is looking to as well.

“You look at them not as basketball players but as kids,” he said. “They’ve learned a lot about competition and effort, things that will help them throughout their lives.”

And they had the opportunity to have a special high-school experience, one most students don’t get to experience.

“The bottom line is these girls are blessed,” Redmon said, “and it’s a blessing they’ve earned through all their hard work and effort.”

That just seems right.