The Mountlake Terrace girls basketball team will build around three returning seniors.
Second-year coach David Brophy is looking to Mindy James, Corrine Pingul and Teryn Bouche to provide leadership for what will be a young Hawks squad composed largely of players moving up from junior varsity.
Brophy describes Mountlake Terrace as consisting of “three experienced girls and the strength of the JV team.”
Bouche and Pingul both were full-time starters and James started about half of the games. The junior varsity team had a strong season so Brophy is hoping they’ll be up to the challenge of playing varsity ball.
Mountlake Terrace attended a team camp and then co-hosted the Edmonds District shootout in June. Brophy also has been hosting open gyms throughout the summer.
The Hawks didn’t win any games in the shootout, but Brophy wasn’t disappointed.
“We played people tough,” he said. “We didn’t have everybody available.”
Brophy was pleased to see the enthusiasm of the younger players.
“(They) are motivated about being in the gym and playing,” Brophy said.
While the Hawks along with every other team are wrapping up their formal summer activities this month, the players still need to work on developing their skills, according to Brophy.
“It’s on them right now,” he said.
Brophy has little doubt his seniors will be ready for the start of the season.
Pingul has played the point guard for the last two season but Brophy isn’t wedded to the idea that Pingul has to return to that position exclusively. He’s hoping other players will be able to fill that role for the Hawks so Pingul doesn’t have to play point guard all the time.
Brophy’s dream team would be to have five female versions of Magic Johnson.
“I want us to be more flexible,” Brophy said. “I’d like to have five kids passing, dribbling, shooting and defending.”
Bouche filled the strong forward role, though she was not the tallest or bulkiest player.
“Her biggest advantage is that she was much quicker,” Brophy said. “She can block out taller girls.”
James, who is recovering from a knee injury suffered at last spring’s state softball tournament, shoots well from the outside.
The rest of the starting and supporting cast is yet to be determined.
“We’re still figuring out all the roles,” Brophy said.
Mountlake Terrace still needs to be a more fundamentally sound team if it wants to improve upon last year’s 3-18 campaign.
“Our need to improve our skills is our No. 1 priority,” Brophy said. “We need to improve the basic passing, dribbling, shooting and defensive intensity.”
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