East Valley’s Hannah Burland signs with Lewis-Clark State
East Valley’s Hannah Burland signed a national letter of intent to play women’s basketball at Lewis-Clark State College.
The 5-foot-10 shooting guard has a sweet outside shot and a proven ability to get to the basket, which should translate well for the Warriors and is a vital part of the East Valley offense.
“I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone that she’s got the chance to play in college on a full-ride scholarship,” East Valley coach Rob Collins said. “She’s been a multisport kid and has worked hard at both soccer and basketball. She’s been part of our varsity since she got here as a freshman.”
And she’s a big part of the team’s high hopes for the 2015-16 season.
“We have a lot of momentum going into this season,” Collins said. “Ever since last year, after we finished fifth down in Yakima, we’ve been very excited about this season because we have our top seven girls all back from last year. We’re going to be better than we were last year.”
Collins credits Burland’s soccer experience with her ability to navigate through traffic and efficiently get to the basket.
“It does,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of success with girls from the soccer program, and the soccer program has had a lot of success with girls from the basketball team. In fact, I think both play a very similar game. It’s just that ours is a lot smaller.”
East Valley has a long, successful history of supporting multisport athletes, whether that means allowing them time to transition from one sport to another or participate in club games and tournaments that occasionally conflict.
“We have, and I think it’s to our benefit and to the kids’ benefit that we do that,” Collins said.
As an example, he said, senior forward Jordan Phelan is a standout volleyball player.
“I know she’s talking to some schools about playing college volleyball,” he said. “We accommodate her playing club volleyball because that’s her primary sport. It works for us.”
Two area players will have an impact on college programs this year.
University graduate Kayleigh Valley had a big sophomore season at Montana a year ago, earning Academic All-Big Sky Conference honors and was an honorable mention All-Big Sky Conference selection. She was named to the conference’s All-Tournament team and MVP of the Lady Griz Classic and was named the Big Sky Conference Player of the Week once and voted the Grizzlies’ most improved player after starting all 33 games.
A year ago Valley was Montana’s most efficient shooter, knocking down a team-leading 47 percent of her shots from the field to average 11.5 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. Valley was a powerful interior scorer who stepped outside to hit 17 3-pointers. At the free throw line she led the Grizzlies with 152 free throw attempts, converting 80.9 percent.
Valley grew more and more consistent as a scorer as the season wore on. She reached double figures in scoring in six of her first 15 games and did it in 14 of the Grizzlies final 18 games. As a rebounder she grabbed 76 of her 159 rebounds off the offensive glass.
She scored a season-high 26 points against Weber State and pulled down a season-high nine rebounds in a win over Montana State. She shot 58.8 percent from the field over an eight-game stretch of Big Sky Conference games.
Now a 5-11 junior, Valley picked up where she left off a year ago, scoring 12 points and pulling down six rebounds in Montana’s opener against Seattle University.
Central Valley grad Mariah Cunningham is looking for a similar breakout season in her sophomore year at Eastern Washington University.
The 6-foot forward is one of five players returning from last year’s record-setting Eastern team. Two are starters: freshman forward Delany Hodgins and her sister, guard Hayley Hodgins.
The Eagles lost nine players from last year’s squad in a mass exodus following the season, which means the 2015-16 squad will be both new and young
Cunningham was on the court for 17 minutes against Air Force over the weekend, scoring seven points and grabbing five rebounds.