By John Leggett | The Courier-Herald
For the South Puget Sound League 3A-leading Sumner High girls basketball squad, height has made all the difference.
Coming into this week, the Sumner ladies were on top of the heap with an untarnished 6-0 SPSL 3A mark, after having beaten both Lakes and Franklin Pierce last week by the respective scores of 58-53 and 58-33.
Coach Robert Thayer’s most important nugget of hardwood philosophy is what he calls the 24-hour rule. “Never get to caught up in a win or a loss for any longer than 24 hours,” he preaches. “Also, never let a win go too much to your head or a loss go too much to your heart.”
Thayer believes this week will be more mentally challenging than any others his girls have had to deal with.
“I can’t remember the last time Sumner has even had a chance of beating White River and I can’t remember the last time our girls basketball team beat Bonney Lake’s, but I know it has been awhile on both counts,” he said.
“Who knows what might happen be-cause Lakes beat both of them and then we beat Lakes,” Thayer said. “Either way, there is still the entire second half of the season to be played and get things sorted out.”
Thayer maintains the only other thing he knows for certain is the Spartans’ situation in the key could not be better, both offensively and on defense. “We have three girls over 5-feet, 10-inches who weren’t part of this program last season when we were depending primarily on our guards and forwards, and these three junior posts are basically interchangeable,” Thayer said.
Last week, it was Ashley Delaney who was really clicking, so the other two were used in reserve roles.
Jan. 5 against Lakes, Delaney had the hot hand going 9-for-18 from the floor and 7-for-10 from the foul line to become the game’s top scorer with 25 points, adding eight blocked shots and eight rebounds. Friday against Franklin Pierce, she scored 13 points and hauled in seven boards.
Sumner hosted White River Tuesday, with results of that match-up coming to late to report here; watch for results at www.courierherald.com. Friday at 5:15 p.m., Sumner will host nemesis Bonney Lake in the first game of a girls-boys doubleheader.
