Energy and passion
Dara Zack has gone through her share of nicknames over the course of the University High School girls basketball season.
As a 5-foot-9 junior post, Zack plays with an obvious passion for the game combined with an internal motor that refuses to wind down.
“She is an igniter,” coach Mark Stinson laughed. “The girls keep changing her nickname because she picks up various superlatives and nicknames in the newspaper. The latest was Energizer Bunny, so they were calling her E.B. there for a while. But it’s true. She just doesn’t run out of energy or passion, either one.
“They gave her a hard time because it was noted in the paper that she got 16 rebounds. But they decided that, since seven of those were rebounds off her own misses, they didn’t feel it merited a new nickname. They figured they couldn’t really count that, but it does show you just how explosive she is, how much quickness to the ball she has and how well she can jump. She’s impressive.”
The Titans entered the season as a favorite to win the State 4A title – based on the number of returning players from last year’s sixth-place squad.
But the season did not start well. Junior standout Angie Bjorklund, who announced before the start of the season that she would accept a scholarship to play college basketball at storied Tennessee, was injured, as was sophomore standout Riki Schiermeister and a number of other veterans. In fact, the team played its jamboree with just three varsity veterans in uniform.
Zack, who missed the jamboree with a persistent foot problem, returned in time for the season opener with Central Valley, scoring 23 points to lead her team to victory.
Zack, however, downplays the accomplishment.
“I think we were all really excited to finally get the season under way,” she demurs. “I just filled a role that had to be filled. Every single player on our team stepped up dramatically in every single game.”
“I think that got Dara’s season off to a great start,” Stinson said. “She didn’t come into the season at 100 percent, but she stepped up, and I think it set a tone for her season and for the rest of the team.”
Zack played every game, averaging 12.5 points per game. In addition to her 23-point effort in the season opener, she scored 20 points to key a victory over Mt. Spokane and added a game-high 18 in a victory over Gonzaga Prep in the regional tournament.
The Titans survived their spate of early-season injuries and are better for it, Zack insists.
Zack gives a great deal of credit to the team’s seniors: Kara Crisp, Chelsea Newman, Courtney Rassier, Tonya Schnibbe and Janna Erickson.
“Those are the players who have really set the tone here at U-Hi,” she said. “They are the ones who started the tradition of going to state every year and doing what it takes to keep that tradition going.”
University suffered nonconference losses to Gonzaga Prep and Ferris before its lineup healed. Bjorklund and Schiermeister returned over the holiday break, and the Titans rolled through the Greater Spokane League season with a 12-1 record, losing only to Mead, and reached the state tournament with a 22-3 record.
“I’m really excited,” Zack said after the team’s final practice session Tuesday. “We’ve been there before, and we’re excited to go back and do better than we have before.
“The thing is, I don’t think we’ve played our best basketball yet. We all know we can still play better, and we’re going to have to play better if we’re going to win four games in four days.
“That’s a lot harder than it sounds. I don’t think people realize just how difficult it is to play four tough games against four outstanding opponents in four days.”
Whatever nickname her teammates give her, Zack has been a constant in a season that has seen a good deal of change.
“The nicknames have changed, but I’m still just Dara,” she laughed. “We all just have a lot of fun together.”
Stinson, for one, is grateful.
“I think that’s the beauty of sports and athletics at the high school level,” he said. “Some of these kids, it might be the last time they play basketball, and they are all integral parts of this team. Without them, it’s not the same. In this case, the cliché about the whole being greater than the sum of its parts is true – more so than any other team I’ve coached.”