Numbers game

Don’t talk to Erin Wallman about height because, to her way of thinking, that’s just a number listed in the program.

A junior center at East Valley, Wallman measures her performance by other standards. To her coaches and teammates, she more than measures up.

“Yes, I am just 5-9,” the junior said. “But I’m still the tallest post player on our team. I just have to go in there and do the best I can against my opponent. How tall I am really doesn’t matter. I have to have the mindset that says they may be taller than I am, but I may be faster. I may be stronger, I may be more determined than they are. I have to use what I have. I can’t control how tall I am, but I can control how hard I work.”

It’s an old sports metaphor: It’s not the size of the dog in the fight that matters; it’s the size of the fight in the dog.

“Definitely,” Wallman agrees. “Besides, in my mind, I’m a beast!”

Hard to argue with her.

Wallman averages 10.2 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. The team’s leading scorer may change on a given night, but the center is always among the top point-getters. Of the team’s first 17 games, Wallman reached double figures 10 times and was held to nine points twice more. She had a season-high 20 points in a loss to visiting Deer Park and scored 27 points in East Valley’s two wins over Pullman.

In those first 17 games, the Knights are 10-7 overall and 6-3 in the Great Northern League. East Valley is in third place, a game behind Deer Park after splitting the regular season series with the Stags. Both trail Clarkston, which has yet to lose a league game.

The team’s secret, Wallman insists, is its chemistry.

“We have six seniors on this team, but only two of them start,” she said. “But they are so intent on this team getting to state and coming home with another trophy. They set the tone for the rest of us. We may seem like we’re a quiet bunch, but we have a lot of fun together and we’re really close.”

And, she added, they share a work ethic that makes opponents feel like couch potatoes.

“Coach (Rob) Collins works us so hard every night in practice,” she said. “We run our butts off every day, so when we get into a game we have so much more in our tank. We’re not going to let up in a game, especially late in a game.

“I speak for everyone on this team. When I see someone get up from the bench to come in for me, I make sure I go that much harder for however long it takes for them to get whistled in. I know I’m going to get a break, so I make sure I leave everything out on the court until they get there. We all think the same way.”

That’s the kind of hustle that got Wallman a ticket to the East Valley varsity as a freshman.

“I didn’t know that much about Erin when she came in as a freshman, so I wasn’t thinking about her for the varsity,” coach Rob Collins said. “She’s always been more of a volleyball player, especially in middle school.”

Wallman realized she needed to get the coach’s attention.

“We had a one-on-one drill and I got put in against a point guard,” she recalled. “I just decided I was going to have to just hustle my way onto the team and I just went all-out in that drill and every one after that.

“I think after that the coach sent the point guard over to find out if I was for real.”

She was, and she helped the Knights reach the state tournament, where they brought home the school’s first trophy for an eighth-place finish.

Wallman said she and her teammates are focused on getting another. And the post has lifted her own game to help make that happen.

“Erin dedicated herself to this basketball season,” Collins said. “She’s worked hard to improve her game, especially her rebounding. She’s had quite a few double-double games for us lately – double figure points and rebounds.”

Wallman admits she never thought much about rebounding before this season, but an early-season game changed her outlook.

“We had a game where we just plain got our butts kicked on the boards,” she said. “I just realized after that game that if we were going to compete on the boards, I was going to have to be the one to go out and make it happen. I just decided that I was going to get every rebound. Didn’t matter if they were bigger than me, that ball was mine.

“My attitude has always been that, if there’s a ball loose on the floor someplace and there isn’t a green uniform diving to get it, mine will be.”

Collins appreciates the effort. It’s all part of the program’s blue-collar ethos.

“Rebounding isn’t about skill when you get down for it,” he said. “It’s about desire, and I think Erin made that connection this year. I think, as a team, these girls are pretty determined and they work hard.

“That’s what I hear from opponents. They know we’re always going to come out and play hard. If you want to beat us, you’re going to have to work for it.”

“When it’s all over with, this team is going to be in Tacoma and we are going to come home with a trophy,” Wallman promised. “That’s going to happen.”