Coming off state title, Gig Harbor girls hoops looking to keep it rolling during summer

Coming off a Class 3A state championship win over Garfield, the Gig Harbor High School girls basketball team is riding the title momentum into the summer period. Here are a few questions and observations from the Tides’ summer league.

Maxwell is back for one more year

To-be senior Brynna Maxwell set the Class 3A state tournament scoring record for the Tides en route to Gig Harbor’s state title. The University of Utah commit will be one of the state’s top players as a senior and figures to continue shattering school records. If there’s one thing Maxwell knows how to do, it’s score. It’s difficult to see many teams having luck slowing her down in her senior season.

Life without Maddie Willett

Maxwell returns, but Gig Harbor loses Maddie Willett, who is heading to Cal Poly to continue her academic and basketball career. Willett was a mainstay at Gig Harbor and was a four-year varsity starter. Her willingness to put her teammates first, her versatility, scoring ability and toughness will be tough to replace.

Oh, and the jokes, too.

“It’s definitely quieter,” Maxwell said, with a laugh. “But it’s different. We’re going to miss her a lot. That’s a huge spot to fill, and we’re going to have to figure out how to handle that. I think we’ll be all right without her, but it was very nice when we had Maddie.”

There’s no one player that will be an easy fill-in for Willett. Replacing that type of production and leadership will be a team effort.

“We’re just going to have to get scoring from different people,” Maxwell said. “Everyone is going to have to step up. She was also great at rebounding. She had like 10 to 12 rebounds per game and we have to make that up. Everyone has to crash the boards and attack the basket. Another Maddie isn’t showing up, so we just have to work on it together.”

Who else will step up?

Gig Harbor returns guards Anna Stewart and Sydney Langworthy, to-be seniors who have plenty of experience on their side. To-be sophomore Meghan Edwards had a breakout freshman campaign, a sharpshooting guard who has the benefit of experience on her side, now.

“I feel a lot more confident, more comfortable now,” Edwards said. “I feel like I belong more.”

Even with Willett, Gig Harbor had a relatively small lineup, compared to some of the state’s other top teams. Without Willett, Gig Harbor gets even shorter. But playing small isn’t always a bad thing, as Gig Harbor will likely look to push the tempo even more this season.

Riding the state title momentum

Gig Harbor is using the emotional momentum from winning a state title as fuel for the postseason, but the players understand the past won’t dictate the future.

“We can talk about the state championship and how great it was, but once the season starts, we kind of have to stop that,” Maxwell said.

The team isn’t short on finding potential sources of motivation.

“We didn’t go undefeated in league. We didn’t win districts,” Maxwell said. “We didn’t live up to our expectations of fulfilling everything we wanted to fulfill. So we still have things to do, and we’re not going to take it lightly. We’re not going to coast and expect to win. Our league is going to be tough this year."