Building on a streak

Krystal McCarthy can count the number of times on one hand that she and her West Valley girls basketball teammates have tasted victory.

“My freshman year we won one game,” the sharp-shooting Eagle junior guard said. “Last year we won twice. This year we’ve already won two games and we have a good shot at winning a few more.”

It’s been tough for West Valley to pick up momentum. In coach Lorin Carlon, the Eagles have their fourth head coach in as many seasons. In other words, this season’s group of seniors has never had the same coach in back-to-back seasons.

For the first time this season, the Eagles went into a Greater Spokane League game Tuesday with visiting Ferris with a winning streak intact, having held off Cheney, 45-43, to go to 9-2, 1-3 in league.

“Every time we win a game it’s like a playoff win,” McCarthy said. “It’s that much of an emotional release.”

McCarthy has had an occasional need for emotional release over her West Valley career.

As a freshman, she was called up by coach Paul Voorhees and made the team’s starting point guard. A year later, she was limited to the bench when coach Jamie Pancho revamped the lineup.

“Last year was a hard one for me,” said McCarthy, a fourth-generation West Valley student. “It was difficult for me to go from starting to spending most of my time on the bench. On top of that I injured my knee and needed surgery, so I missed out on all of summer basketball.”

Knee surgery was successful and McCarthy was able to play the entire soccer season in the fall, and rediscovered a starting position under Carlon.

“I’m just about back to 100 percent,” McCarthy said. “I was able to play soccer without a brace – my doctor told me that playing with a brace would only be a mental thing.

“I guess if you can get through soccer, getting banged around the way you do, you can handle basketball.”

Through 11 games, the junior has scored in double figures five times, including a season-high 17 against Mt. Spokane – hitting five 3-point field goals against the Wildcats.

“That’s something I’ve always pretty much done – shoot the ball,” McCarthy said. “We have some players on this year’s team who shoot the ball pretty well but we’ve had trouble finding someone to step up and do the scoring for us.”

Shifting to the No. 2 guard position this season with the development of junior Olivia Peavey and sophomore Jordyn Sodoroff at point guard, McCarthy has been one of the team’s consistent scorers.

“I love going out and hitting a 3-pointer early,” she said. “It gets me excited and makes me feel like we’re getting something going. At the same time, if I start the game out cold I generally have the ability to get myself untracked.”

Understandably, finding a level of equilibrium in team chemistry has taken both time and patience.

“We’ve gone through some times when we fight with one another,” McCarthy said. “There was a point against Cheney where it felt like everything was coming apart and we were starting to get mad at each other.

“We were up by 10 points in the third quarter, but they came back in the fourth quarter. Finally, coach Carlon called a time out and got us all settled down and we were able to pull that game out.”

McCarthy sees plenty of winnable games facing the Eagles down the home stretch of the season – with the Class 3A playoffs looming at the end of the road.

Heading into next Friday’s Golden Throne game at East Valley, McCarthy is a bit relieved.

“When I was a kid, the one thing I wanted to do most in the world was to play in the Golden Throne game as a freshman,” she said. “That was a great thrill for me. Last year, when we played the game at West Valley, it was a little more stressful.”

A member of the band, McCarthy was called on to do double duty during the annual spirit game.

“I had to play with the pep band during halftime,” she laughed. “We don’t have the biggest gym in the world, so it was pretty packed for the game. And with all those people in there, it got pretty hot.

“So I had to pull on a T-shirt and go up and play drums with the band instead of heading to the locker room for halftime. With our pep band, the drums are clear up at the top of the stands, where it was even hotter than normal.

“I’m glad I don’t have to do that again.”