Eagles squad finding its way

Torrey Finn readily admits to the wish.

“Oh, I wish we were undefeated,” the West Valley High School senior basketball player says. “But at the same time, I truly believe that everything happens for a reason.”

While the Eagles aren’t undefeated after completing the regular season Thursday night at home against Pullman, they may be an even better team heading into the playoffs than if they had not suffered a handful of losses.

With most of the team back from a third-place finish at the state Class 2A girls tournament a year ago, the Eagles came into the 2010-’11 season with justifiably high hopes and expectations.

And then the unforeseen happened.

Gonzaga University-bound Shaniqua Nilles, a four-year starter for the Eagles, and sophomore starter Aaliyah Ashley-Meek both came down with mononucleosis and missed seven games.

Additionally, the Eagles lost senior forward Katie Welch to a dislocated shoulder – an injury that sidelined her last year as well.

“I’ve been playing basketball with Shaniqua since I was in second grade,” Finn said. “She’s always been the one we looked to to score when we needed a basket. When I first found out that she was out, I thought ‘Oh, my gosh – what are we going to do now?’ I knew that someone was going to have to fill her role. Some of us tried, but those are some awfully big shoes to fill.”

Finn, a 5-foot-5 guard with high-RPM motor, couldn’t necessarily fill in for the 6-foot Nilles. But she could take her own game to the next level to help make up for the loss.

“The difficult thing is that we didn’t have a lot of depth coming into this season,” she said. “We were especially short on posts. We had to manufacture some and we had to do it in a hurry. We brought some players up from the junior varsity and they had to find ways to contribute right away, especially in practice. We found a way.”

For starters, Finn and senior guard Mallorie Schoesler had to play extended minutes. Both found themselves playing virtually every minute of every game.

“I think having to play without Shaq has made us a better team, and I hate to say that because she’s such a great player,” Finn said. “It made me become a better player. I have to step up more – I had to score more and I had to play better defense.

“I found myself doing more, taking the ball to the basket more and then dishing it off. When you have a player as good as Shaniqua is, you rely on her and we had to learn to rely on ourselves.”

Finn’s offensive contributions stepped up. She looked to shoot more from the outside, including beyond the three-point line, and found success.

“There were some games in there where she was scoring 15-16 points a game for us,” said assistant coach Jamie Nilles, Shaniqua’s father. “She’s been one of our better defenders, too – especially when we get her motor running the right way.”

Finn scored a career-best 17 points to lead the Eagles in a win over Lakeland.

There was bad to go with that good, however. The Eagles lost a regular season game for the first time since their sophomore season.

“That was hard on us all, the players, the coaches, all of us,” Finn said. “We took losing hard and it was pretty emotional in the locker room after.”

Learning to play without a star player can be a good thing, Finn said. With Nilles and Ashley-Meek both back for the stretch run, the Eagles figure to be an even stronger squad than they were before both players were sidelined.

“I think we learned to stand on our own two feet and not rely on Shaq to do it all,” Finn said. “I think the situation made me work a lot harder. I bruise easily, and every day after practice I’m showing coach (Lorin) Carlon a new bruise I got that day. I think between soccer and basketball my knees are permanently bruised.

“But I also think I appreciate what I have even more because of it all. I value what we have and what we can accomplish because it can all be over with just like that.”

In West Valley’s two games last weekend, the team’s first with both players back in uniform, the Eagles knocked off Cheney and East Valley. Nilles and Ashley-Meek played roughly a half against Cheney and a little more against the rival Knights.

“I’m just happy to have them back,” Finn said. “They aren’t 100 percent yet, but Shaq is a fighter. I’d rather have her at 80 percent than anyone else at 100.”

The path to state will be a battle. Regular-season champion Clarkston, Pullman, West Valley and East Valley all finished the regular season with winning records and only two GNL teams advance to the sub-regional, where top-ranked Prosser awaits.

“It’s going to be a battle to get back to state,” Finn said. “We know that and we’re ready for it. We’ve all beaten each other and no one in our league is undefeated. We know what we have to do and I think we’re peaking at just the right time.”