On-court chemistry

When it comes to girls basketball at West Valley High School, age is irrelevant.

If you’ve got game, you’re in the game.

A team that got its first taste of postseason play in ages a year ago has turned to three freshmen players in an attempt to earn a trip to the state Class 2A tournament.

West Valley coach Lorin Carlon recognized the way his 2007-08 team was going to shape up a year ago. The Eagles would field a team made up of seniors and freshmen. No juniors. No sophomores. Part of the team looking forward to graduation, the other part looking forward to taking driver’s education.

Carlon told his returning seniors that, if they wanted to punch a ticket to the big dance – and by that he did not mean the senior prom – they were going to have to embrace a talented freshman class.

You’re only going as far as those freshmen can take you, he told them, throwing down the gauntlet.

“That’s exactly right,” assistant coach Renae Nilles said. “And I think our seniors have accepted them and made them feel welcome. I think the only thing they care about is what they can do on the court.”

Carlon said he set out immediately to make sure there were no age barriers on this squad.

“I don’t know if it’s the right thing to do, but I paired every freshman up with a senior,” he said. “I told them that, whenever we went someplace, they were going make sure that freshman got there with us. If they drove, they took ‘em along with ‘em.”

The coach’s formula started during summer league. By the time practice started, the team’s chemistry was set.

Three freshmen emerged to stake out roles on the West Valley varsity. Versatile Shaniqua Nilles starts and, after six wins in seven games, is the team’s leading scorer – playing every position on the court. Hannah Love is one of the first players off the Eagles’ bench and an emerging force in the post. Guard Torrey Finn currently divides time between the varsity and junior varsity.

“I got to play with Torrey in soccer,” senior post/wing Lacey Nordby said. “She came right in and never backed down. She was pushing people out of the way and making a big contribution.”

Each of the three has a long basketball pedigree, both individually and as a group.

“Hannah and I have been playing basketball together since the second grade,” Finn said. “Shaniqua joined us in the third grade. We didn’t always play on the same AAU teams because she played up against older players for a while, but we still played together on school teams.”

Nilles, called “Shaq” by her teammates, has long been a part of West Valley basketball. Her father, Jamie, is the boys basketball coach. Her mother, 6-foot-1 Renae, played on one of the state’s best Class 1A teams and helped Foster to the 1986 state title and is the Eagles’ assistant coach.

“I’ve been looking forward to playing for West Valley for as long as I can remember,” she said. “I was pretty nervous when I went out there to play my first game. But I just reminded myself that I love to play basketball and that this was what I’ve dreamed of doing. It got easier after that.”

Hannah Love is a second-generation Eagle.

“My dad played here and my brother played here,” she said. “It took some time to get used to playing at this level. The game is much faster than last year in eighth grade, and it’s much more physical. But I’ve gotten used to it and it feels good to be able to go out there and be part of this team.”

Finn said she’s not surprised to see her longtime teammates step right in and contribute.

“I had no doubt they were going to be able to play and play well,” she said. “They’re both really good players. I think Shaq is our best point guard right now. She’s so tall (5-9) that she can really see the floor well and she makes great passes.”

The Eagles enter the Great Northern League portion of their schedule with a 1-0 league record, thanks to a win over Medical Lake before Christmas – and they start 2008 with a tough series of league games. Friday night they played Cheney. Today they face Clarkston. Next week they face Pullman.

“Right now we have games where we’re really up and we hit everything in sight and we have games when I wonder if we’ve ever had a practice,” Carlon said. “I’m hoping to find some consistency somewhere in the middle. That would make me happy.”

But he’s not worried about chemistry.

“I don’t think we’re teammates at this point,” Shaniqua Nilles said. “I think of them as family. We love playing together. We hang out together. We laugh and have fun together. That’s what family does.”