Look at the bench during any Highland Christian girls basketball game this season and one thing stands out. Head coach Meaghan Brown and her assistant coach and father-in-law Steve Brown look lonely. The seats next to them, usually occupied by a team’s reserve players, are empty.
If ever one of those seats is occupied by a player when the ball is in play, the Knights are in trouble. It likely means a player is hurt or has fouled out as Highland Christian has just five players. Senior Craylise Jacobson, juniors Chloe Brown and Katie Costley, sophomore Alaina Hayward and freshman Naomi Nuss make up this year’s team. Another senior, Emma Sytsma, is listed on the roster and suits up for games, but hasn’t played since her sophomore season due to a heart condition.
The Highland Christian girls team has never gone into a season with less than eight players, but with under 40 students in the whole school, the majority of which are boys, this season has posed the program’s toughest challenge.
Many schools wouldn’t even field a team in such a situation. Highland Christian’s five girls were given that choice, but the decision to play was an easy one.
“At the very beginning, when we were realizing it was going to be five players, we tried to tell them what they were going to be looking at and what it would be,” Steve Brown said. “They talked with their parents and they talked amongst themselves and they said, ‘We’re ready.’ What was really impressive to me is that they had the idea in their head and they said, ‘Let’s go for it.’”
And they have.
All five players are forced to play a full 32 minutes in every game, but it hasn’t stopped the Knights, who have a 5-8 record the Northwest 1B league and a 7-8 record overall, from being competitive.
“It’s definitely more rewarding to see five girls come out with a win against a team that has seven, eight or more players,” Meaghan Brown said. “To see our girls show that heart and that dedication, they feel more rewarded. Even just coming close in a game is rewarding for us. We’re not super-depressed when we lose as long as we play with all that we have. That’s what we focus on.”
As many of Highland Christian’s opponents have learned, overlooking the Knights would be a mistake. Many teams will press and try to run the floor against them hoping to exploit their weakness.
The Knights should take it as a compliment.
Grace Academy head coach Rick Holt knew what his team was up against before the two teams met on Jan. 15. Highland Christian had lost two games to Orcas Christian earlier in the season, but both were within 10 points, including a four-point loss on Jan. 8. Orcas Christian had beaten Grace Academy in two of the three meetings between the two teams causing Holt to say of Highland Christian, “they have our attention on the schedule.”
Grace Academy beat Highland Christian for a third time this season, but it wasn’t easy. Behind a strong third period from its star player and last season’s league MVP Chloe Brown, who scored all 10 of her team’s points in the quarter, Highland Christian trailed the Eagles by just four going into the final quarter.
Using full-court defensive pressure, Grace Academy outscored Highland Christian 20-5 in the final quarter and won the game 48-29.
Holt went to the press not to embarrass the team with no reserves, but out of necessity.
“We had to tonight just to get some momentum,” he said.
Holt has had to deal with low turnout at his school before, but nothing like what the Knights have gone through this season.
“(I have) nothing but admiration,” he said. “We started the season with seven players and I thought that was very (low). Five, I can’t even imagine.”
The story for Highland Christian that night, as it’s been in many of its losses this season, was late-game fatigue. Something that comes with the territory when you have just five players.
“We know that it’s difficult for them — we can tell — but they’ve never once complained, which is amazing to me,” Meaghan Brown said. “We’ve had weeks where we’ve had three games in a row. By the third game you can tell that their body is not moving as fast as they would like it to and they’ve never once complained.”
The coaching staff dedicates some of its practice time to making sure the players are in shape, but encourage the players to run and do pushups on their own time to improve stamina.
Getting tired isn’t the team’s only concern. In three of the games this season the Knights have had a player foul out in the fourth quarter with the outcome still in doubt.
The Knights lost all three games.
“We just recently had our star player foul out and we had a couple minutes left and it was a close game,” Meaghan Brown said. “The other girls just power through it. They don’t complain. They don’t get angry. They just keep going. Really impressive was, the last time that happened, our point guard fouled out and the girls kept fighting. They just kept fighting and fighting and they would not give up even though it was five-on-four at that point.”
The players know that losing a player to fouls could mean the difference between a win and a loss.
“It’s scary because you can be in a close game and in the last minute, lose one player and that could be it,” said co-captain and point guard Costley. “That extra body really does make a big difference on the court. Even if they can’t foul, them standing there still occupies space.”
The Knights can play five-on-four if a player fouls out, but they have to start each game with a least five players. That makes illness and injuries a major concern as well.
Only once this season have those concerns turned into a real problem. With Chloe Brown unable to play in a game against Skykomish due to illness, the Knights were forced to cancel. Rather than force Highland Christian to forfeit, Skykomish rescheduled the game.
“None of us can be sick or injured,” Costley said. “The hardest quarters are always the second and the fourth because the first and the third we come out and we’re rested. It’s just the challenge to always push ourselves and still have that energy throughout the entire game. I think our girls have done a lot better than I expected at the beginning of the season. When you have a team with five players, it’s scary. I’m so proud of all of us.”
Some of the players on the team have had to deal with nagging injuries throughout the season, but so far nothing that has kept them from playing. Just as some of the players have dedicated themselves to working on their stamina outside of practice, they also have to make sure they are taking care of their bodies.
“A lot of what we do with the whole injury thing is if somebody is starting to get a pain in their ankle or something we’ll rest more outside of practice,” Costley said. “I’ve seen people sitting in school with their leg up or something so that we’re not taking those risky options where we’re going to P.E. or something and are going to go sprain an ankle.”
The Knights have done whatever it takes to make sure they can take the floor for every game. As the season winds down, their effort hasn’t gone unnoticed by the coaches.
“Inspiring would be the word that I would use,” Meaghan Brown said. “I know that if I was one of them I would want to play with five players because I love playing. What is inspiring is to have new players that do that and to have people that maybe aren’t in the best shape, but they’re willing to work hard. Inspiring. I respect them. They’re always striving for excellence.”
Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.
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