'Our goal is to win this year'

New coach, new faces have Lady Vikings believing in themselves

MOSES LAKE - Before Preston Wilks set foot on the basketball court this fall, he sat down with his Big Bend Lady Vikings and had them do a self-assessment test.

The Lady Vikings have been a program in turmoil in recently, going 11-17 last season and failing to qualify for the conference championships for the fourth straight season. So Wilks, an assistant with the Big Bend men's team for seven years prior to taking the Lady Vikings' reins last March, wanted to get at the root of the problem.

"You know what the No. 1 thing they said was wrong? They didn't get pushed hard enough," Wilks said. "I've found these ladies thrive on being pushed just as hard as we would the guys. They want to be treated as basketball players who have passion. That's how I'm treating them, and they're responding."

As an assistant under long-time men's coach Mark Poth, Wilks tasted nothing but success, having gone to the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges' championship tournament seven years running. The expectation for winning is something he wants to instill immediately in his young ladies.

"I'm super-excited about this opportunity," he said Wednesday. "Our goal is not to win in three years - our goal is to win this year."

How did Wilks and his staff prepare to earn one of the East Division's four berths to the NWAACC tournament? Find players to match the coaching philosophy.

"I like the up-tempo, high-pressure, full-court defense type of system," Wilks said, explaining the women will run something similar to Poth's system with the men.

"I went after some girls that I think are great players," he added. "I tell everyone our players to watch are our sophomores, but some of these freshmen are going to step up and they're going to have unbelievable years."

To achieve success with such a system, Wilks and his three assistants looked for quick, athletic types who weren't afraid to run or be defensive ball-hawkers. That's completely different from East Division rivals like Columbia Basin, Spokane and Walla Walla who rely on size and a half-court offense.

"That's one of the questions I always asked when I was recruiting - 'How is their foot speed?'" Wilks said. "When the coaches said, 'They're not the fastest,' then they weren't at the top of my list."

Wilks also looked for girls who knew how to win. Sophomore co-captain Kim Bluff, along with incoming freshman Misty Ostlie, were teammates on Cusick High School's 2005 state championship team. Freshman forward Angela Fales helped her California team win a regional title, freshman guard Natalie Lindley won volleyball and basketball championships at Bonneville High School in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and freshman forward Kaitie Poston won a combined seven state titles in the discus and shot put for Bonners Ferry, Idaho.

"A lot of these girls know how to win," Wilks said. "They play hard, they know how to win, and they know you've got to get it done in practice."

Bluff and co-captain Heather Burke are Big Bend's only sophomores. Of the other seven players, six are scholarship athletes. The only exception is walk-on Mandy Peone, a 5-4 guard out of Reardan.

Wilks' other recruits include Warden High School's Dana Bates, a 5-9 guard/forward, and Teianna Mabe, a 5-10 guard/forward from Emmett, Idaho.

The coach expects big things from his co-captains. In two recent scrimmages, Burke nailed 7 of 11 tries from 3-point range.

"I think Kim will be all-league and Heather should be one of the top 3-point shooters in the league, percentage-wise," he said.

The team features some nice all-around athleticism, evidenced by the fact that Lindley, Peone and Poston all play volleyball for Big Bend. Lindley is still shaking off the effects of a severe ankle sprain that kept her on the bench for most of the volleyball season.

"Monday and Tuesday we worked her hard and her ankle responded," Wilks said of Lindley, who will likely split time at the point and shooting guard spots. "She's going to be a real valuable asset to our team because she can shoot the ball."

Wilks knows the key to improving upon last season's 11-win total is getting his ladies to execute the frenetic style he stresses.

"If we can't do that, then we're in a world of hurt," he said. "We're not going to go toe-to-toe with them inside. We want to have them create mistakes, turn the ball over.

"When we get in certain spots with our defense, we're trapping. We want to make a situation where it's intense pressure for the other team."

If the Lady Vikings do that, a spot in March's NWAACC tournament could be within reach.

"That's what I told these ladies," Wilks said. "I said, 'Put it on your calendar because we're going to work towards getting there.'"