Change in the air

They believe.

During the first three years of Eleaya Schuerch’s high school varsity basketball career, her East Valley teammates focused on working hard and getting better. They believed they could be a good basketball team if they stuck to that path and established a solid work ethic.

Not so now.

“We believe we can win,” the 5-foot-7 senior guard said. “In all the past years it’s been that same old East Valley story: we’re good, but we’re not that good. We knew that we probably weren’t going to win.

“This year we have a totally different mentality because we are good. We know that and we work as hard as we can because we know we can be good. That’s what’s changed.”

Already this season the Knights have done something no East Valley girls basketball team has done as far back as anyone can remember: They beat rival Central Valley.

“No one could remember the last time we’d beaten them,” Schuerch said. “But we didn’t celebrate; we didn’t jump around and make a big deal out of it. Coach said he wanted us to win with class and we did.”

In addition to the 53-45 win over the Bears, the Knights entered the holiday break with a 4-4 record, with wins over North Central, Shadle Park and Rogers.

The team hit a rough patch in the middle of the month, losing three straight games over four days, to Greater Spokane League leading Lewis and Clark, and by three points to Gonzaga Prep and Ferris on back-to-back nights.

“Those were really tough losses,” Schuerch said. “Those were both games we should have won.

“In year’s past, once you get past the break it can be a real grind. But this year, I think it’s going to get better.”

Schuerch came on board the East Valley varsity as a freshman in coach Freddie Rehkow’s second season with the Knights.

“When I was a freshman and I came onto the varsity team, they were really nice to me and they accepted me,” she said. “But it was almost like they weren’t really trying to help me.

“I swore that I would never do that with any of the freshmen who came up. I would try to be close to them and make them feel as accepted as I wanted to be.”

Rehkow’s enthusiasm for the game has been infectious, she said. And his approach to the game boils down to a simple premise: A whole team can be greater than the sum of its individual players.

“I don’t want to lose and (coach Rehkow) doesn’t want to lose,” she said. “It takes really good teamwork to make that happen, and that’s what we’ve been working on over the years.

“It comes down to one thing: a good team beats good players. I think we’ve just about got it this year.”

Last year the Knights made great strides.

“We were trying to break through the shell,” Schuerch said. “We beat Gonzaga Prep and that was huge for us. At that moment we knew we could win, but as time went on it was back to the same old story.”

This year, she said, the team found that new sense of confidence right from the beginning. Not even those three-straight losses could dent it.

“We’re ready to play them again,” Schuerch said.

The Knights typically use a deep bench, keeping fresh legs on the floor to maintain an intense team defense.

“We focus on our defense,” Schuerch said. “Because if you play really good defense, your offense is just going to show up. That helps us. We work on our defense more now than we ever have.”

For the first time, the Knights have their own secret symbol to represent their camaraderie.

“We write on our arms,” Schuerch said. “We started doing that in the beginning of the season. Coach Rehkow wanted us to have something that only our team knew about.”

Team members write the letters “DYB” on their arms.

Just don’t ask what it means.

“A lot of people like to guess,” she said. “But I can’t tell you. My mom wants to know, but I can’t tell her, either.

“But it keeps people interested.”