Gonzaga women's basketball team hosts camp, holds practice

MOSES LAKE - Moses Lake community members and athletes got a chance to witness how a Division I women's basketball program goes about its business Monday night.

The Gonzaga University women's basketball team held an open practice at Moses Lake High School after hosting a basketball camp at North Elementary earlier in the day.

The reigning West Coast Conference league and tournament champions went through drills in front of an ever-growing audience.

"This is a Division I program that's been to the NCAA Tournament however many year in a row, winning their conference tournament, conference championship however many years in a row," said Moses Lake head girls basketball coach Matt Strophy. "So its a big deal to have a program of that caliber and the fact they're local ... I think it's good for our high school age kids to see.

"Sometimes they think they're ready for the college level. I think it's good for them to see the college level and if we're really that close."

Basin athletes spotted in the crowd included Moses Lake Christian Academy's Dani Sandberg and Anna Yarbro; Warden's Aaliyah Enriquez; and Moses Lake High School's Alysha Overland, Avery Clark, Abby Rathbun, Jessie Loera and Jamie Loera.

Gonzaga has expressed interest in recruiting Jessie - a junior - so the point guard wanted to catch a glimpse of her possible future.

"I love intensity, intense practices," Jessie said. "I understand college practices are like that and I'd like to see it first-hand and this gives me an experience to see how it is and see how I like what they do and what I can take in about their program and everything."

She was also a fan of how the practice was structured with quick transitions from drill to drill.

"I like it so far how they're keeping them moving and they're not standing around a whole lot," Jessie said. "They're doing a bunch of little drills. Not just the same one for a long period of time, which is really nice."

Due to NCAA restrictions, Strophy wasn't able to promote the practice as much as he would've liked, but the turn out was pretty good for just word of mouth as most of the available bleachers were filled.

The Gonzaga cameo served as a nice appetizer to the upcoming high school basketball season. Last year, Moses Lake was Columbia Basin Big Nine league co-champions with Sunnyside, district champions and finished fifth at the 4A state tournament.

With returning starters Jessie, Clark and McKenna Walker, Moses Lake should once again be a formidable team.

"I think this is great for our community, our program in and of itself to show we are an elite 4A level program that can garner this interest," Strophy said. "We have some talent and it really gets our juices flowing and ready for our season coming up."

Moses Lake's season begins Dec. 2 on the road against Southridge.

Several youth athletes were also on hand and Strophy hoped that seeing elite female athletes would show that it takes hard work and effort to play at the level of Gonzaga.

"I think the main thing that I want all of the kids - whether it's kindergarten Little Hoopsters and third grade to eighth grade AAU players - is that this is a continual process," he said. "You don't just show up when basketball practice starts and expect to be good. These girls are, not that I expect kids to be year-round athletes or basketball players, but you have to work on your skills all the time.

"You can't pick up a basketball during November. You have to pick it up a little bit every week ... Once a week, twice a week. Work on some of these skills that these kids do all the time in order to be at this level."

Under head coach Lisa Fortier, Gonzaga finished the 2013-14 regular season 29-5 overall and 16-2 in the WCC. Gonzaga won the conference and tournament championships before losing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to James Madison.