By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

SALEM, Ore.–  It’s been an interesting year for the North Salem High School Girls Basketball team as they enter their final practice of the year.

At 0-23, Head Coach Brent Turner didn’t envision his young team to be in a predicament like this, to be searching for a win with one game to go.

He described it as surprising, but not that good kind of surprise.

“I didn’t envision us being 0 and 23 at this point right now with one game to go.  One chance to win a game in this year,” said Turner.  “But, again, in my far distance of my mind I kind of saw us being in a similar situation like this where we maybe have one or two wins (to this point).

“We had a couple of close games where we’re there, we just couldn’t finish.  I tell (the girls) all the time, they’re super young, they’re really young.”

Young they are.

With just two seniors on the roster, the majority of the remaining roster are sophomores with a few juniors.

“It shows a lot because when we play a South (Salem) or a McMinnville or some other team, the fourth quarter they score the most points.  “ said Turner.  “Fourth quarter is when they put in their JV players that they use for one quarter in.  It shows.  We can play with those girls.

“They’re all sophomores, with two seniors.”

One of those sophomores, Post player Janel Urbina, said that this year was like a rebuilding year, a confidence-boosting year, with how young they were entering the season.

“I think it was experimental, especially since more than half of the team was sophomores,” started Urbina.  “But it’s preparing us to be better in the future years.  As sophomores, we should feel pretty confident and aggressive and should be doing really well by our senior year.”

Confidence.

That and growth occurred for this young team this season as they grew accustom to during the grueling long season that is up at the varsity level for most girls who have only had a handful of years of organized basketball compared to their South Salem or McMinnville counterparts.

“We’ve had tons of growth,” said Turner.  “Kids get more confident, it’s a huge experience coming up to the varsity when in your mind and your body, and you’re not ready for that varsity level.

“You just got to instill in them, your young you’re going to get better and there’s no place but up next year.”

For North Salem, they have one more opportunity to build their confidence heading into the offseason when they take on Forest Grove Tuesday night for Senior Night.

“Forest Grove is a really aggressive team,” said Urbina.  “So if we can learn to play against really aggressive teams at a young age, we should be able to dominate the rest of the game.  We should be able to learn how to play aggressive as well to tone their aggressiveness down and build ours off of that.”

For Turner, he’s telling his team to go out there.  Do something that you’ve never done before and see one last time, what you’ve learned over the course of the season.

“I tell them, that we’re in a mode where we got nothing to lose,” said Turner.  “So go out and do something you’ve never done before.  Go out and try some moves you’ve never done before and see the accumulation of what you’ve learned over the course of the season.”

Overall Turner is impressed with how his team has grown and gain valuable experience and confidence this season.

It’s probably safe to say that the future of the Lady Viks Basketball Program is bright.

“As the years go on,” said Turner.  “I’m really looking forward to, especially my sophomores, they’ve lost to south by three or four points?!? And they brought five of their JV members down to play our freshman and we still battle to the end, to the last 30 seconds and lost it.

“If that’s not a formula for success for the future, I don’t know what is.”

Jeremy McDonald is a professional sports journalist in the Salem/Portland area and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalist in Oregon with B.S. degrees from Southern Oregon University in Journalism (2011) and Health/PE (2013).  Got a story idea? Email him at jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com or on Twitter at @J_McDonald81