Warriors lose ‘shooting star’, but will be competitive

Published 4:00 pm Monday, December 10, 2007

The Warrenton Warriors were your classic “overachievers” of 2006-07.

After losing their season opener at Knappa, the Warrior girls basketball team was victorious in 20 of their next 22 games, won a state playoff at home, then advanced to the final eight of the state tournament, where they lost tight games to powers Burns and Myrtle Point.

In short, the Warriors will have a tough battle on their hands if they are to equal or surpass last year’s performance.

Warrenton lost eight seniors and four starters off the roster, but a solid starting five could make the transition year a little smoother.

The League

“Rainier should be at the top,” said Warrenton coach John Mattila, who led the Warriors to their first state tournament appearance since 1994-95, and their most wins (22) since the 2001-02 season.

“They have most of their girls back. They lost (league MVP) Heidi Jackson, but they have some good girls returning. Mollee Schwegler is the real key to that group.

“Catlin Gabel has a real sound group back, and they were very competitive,” he said. “Portland Adventist has one of the better players in the league, if not two of them (juniors Sierra King and Sara White).”

In addition, Oregon Episcopal “has their whole team back, and the coaches think they should be pretty good.”

The Outlook

With just one senior and an abundance of talent at the sophomore and junior levels, Warrenton’s best years could be right around the corner.

For now, the Warriors are still in the top three in the Lewis & Clark League.

“I think we can be towards the top in league and fighting for a playoff spot,” Mattila said. “If everybody stays healthy and we can continue to improve we could be playing for first place.”

For now, Rainier’s got the edge in experience. Prediction: second place, Lewis & Clark League.

The Players

The task for Mattila – replacing four starters, including last year’s freshman phenom, Jordyn Holt.

Holt was the very definition of a “shooting star,” as her time at Warrenton was bright, but brief.

Holt’s Coast Guard family moved east over the summer, leaving the Warriors without their leading scorer from last year. Holt also set a single-season school record with 111 steals, and later placed second in the high jump at the state track meet.

Still, “We think our starting five, and top six or seven girls are going to be real competitive,” Mattila said. “We won’t have the depth we were anticipating, or that we’d like to have.”

The starting five will likely include the team’s only senior – Chelsea Neahring – along with juniors Lauren Dove and Jordane Marxer, and sophomore Brooklyn Campbell.

“We’re not sure about the fifth one,” Mattila said in preseason. “It could be (sophomores) Marylynne Ahrensbach or Chelsea Smotherman sharing time at that fifth spot.”

Sophomore Angel Legler could also be in the running, and sophomore Brittany Nyberg may also see varsity time.

“We’re fairly athletic, and I think we’ll have a little more scoring than we’ve had in the past,” he said. “We’ll be a little harder to defend, and we like to run. And you have to rebound to run.”

Stephanie Claterbos will be Mattila’s varsity assistant coach this year, and the Warriors’ new addition to the staff is former Ilwaco player Marie (Wroble) Green, who will coach the junior varsity.